Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.55

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.55 per share by the healthcare product maker on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th.

Abbott Laboratories has raised its dividend by an average of 12.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 53 consecutive years. Abbott Laboratories has a dividend payout ratio of 42.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Abbott Laboratories to earn $5.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.9%.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock traded down $0.59 on Friday, hitting $113.56. 3,520,738 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,811,661. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $89.67 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a 50 day moving average of $110.32 and a 200 day moving average of $108.64. The stock has a market cap of $197.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABT. Barclays increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.33.

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.