Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Declares $0.59 Quarterly Dividend

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of 0.59 per share by the healthcare product maker on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th.

Abbott Laboratories has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 54 years. Abbott Laboratories has a dividend payout ratio of 41.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Abbott Laboratories to earn $5.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.2%.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $126.84 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $130.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.34. The stock has a market cap of $219.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.58, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $131,123.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 74,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,277,222.77. The trade was a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total value of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,625,404.96. This represents a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,719 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,755 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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.