Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Short Interest Update

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) saw a large drop in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,680,000 shares, a drop of 7.0% from the July 31st total of 13,630,000 shares. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,480,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.80.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $113.27 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $107.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.71. The company has a market capitalization of $197.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $89.67 and a 52-week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.54%.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière's disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.