Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02, RTT News reports. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The business had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $105.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $182.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.57. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $89.67 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 12,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 78,704 shares in the company, valued at $9,444,480. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,320,866,000 after buying an additional 30,218,560 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $1,893,715,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,278,132,000 after buying an additional 4,886,954 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 83.1% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,925,012 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $582,924,000 after buying an additional 2,235,314 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,299,250 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,573,920,000 after buying an additional 1,873,411 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Three 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.31.

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.