Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Stock Price Down 0.6%

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)’s stock price dropped 0.6% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $107.11 and last traded at $108.03. Approximately 891,788 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 6,015,783 shares. The stock had previously closed at $108.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Raymond James reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Finally, Edward Jones downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.00.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.85. The company has a market capitalization of $187.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $10.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,467,081 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,222,332,000 after buying an additional 701,740 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth about $16,764,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,932,000. Garde Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 1,858 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Haverford Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 93,879 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,333,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.