Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Price Up 0.3%

Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) were up 0.3% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $114.02 and last traded at $114.00. Approximately 935,544 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 5,811,093 shares. The stock had previously closed at $113.70.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABT. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Edward Jones downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.33.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $110.50 and its 200-day moving average is $108.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $199.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,788,216,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834,840 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,530,825,000 after purchasing an additional 7,527,778 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $7,976,382,000 after buying an additional 5,882,780 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the first quarter valued at about $341,777,000. Finally, Sessa Capital IM L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth approximately $264,876,000. 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.