Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Releases Q2 Earnings Guidance

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) issued an update on its second quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $1.08-1.12 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12. Abbott Laboratories also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 4.550-4.700 EPS.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $105.27 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $89.67 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.29, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.27% and a return on equity of 20.65%. The business had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on ABT. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note 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. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $121.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares in the company, 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 valued at $6,451,298 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 888.9% during the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 270,163 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 242,843 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.