Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Down 1.4%

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) shares dropped 1.4% on Monday . The company traded as low as $108.99 and last traded at $109.76. Approximately 1,862,921 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 6,023,211 shares. The stock had previously closed at $111.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Edward Jones lowered Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.00.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $104.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 68.54%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jr. Robert E. Funck sold 10,097 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.57, for a total transaction of $1,055,843.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 211,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,099,928.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 22,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.25, for a total value of $2,428,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 61,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,530,337.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jr. Robert E. Funck sold 10,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.57, for a total transaction of $1,055,843.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 211,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,928.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.