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

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

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $105.27 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $114.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.79, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given 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 payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at $7,315,537.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 30,218,560 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,893,715,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,278,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886,954 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $582,924,000 after buying an additional 2,235,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15.1% in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABT. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped 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. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. TheStreet raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.