Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Short Interest Down 14.4% in November

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,050,000 shares, a decrease of 14.4% from the October 31st total of 14,070,000 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 5,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $116.81 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company’s fifty day moving average is $115.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.43.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 39.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41,557 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

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.