Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Down 0.4%

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) shares fell 0.4% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $112.80 and last traded at $113.56. 778,338 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 5,770,503 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABT. Barclays boosted their price target 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. Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $124.33.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $111.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company has a market capitalization of $197.81 billion, a PE ratio of 35.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 94.1% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 10,518 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 5,098 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 5,439 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 135,026 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $14,862,000 after acquiring an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicholas Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 89,350 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,835,000 after acquiring an additional 4,560 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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.