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

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $105.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization 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. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $89.67 and a 52-week high of $121.64. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $114.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $107.57.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,315,537.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. now owns 3,236 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,275 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Landaas & Co. WI ADV increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Landaas & Co. WI ADV now owns 5,534 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,029 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,371,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Staley Capital Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 26,391 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,897,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet raised shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Raymond James boosted 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. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.31.

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.