Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Trading 0.5% Higher

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)’s stock price shot up 0.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $108.40 and last traded at $108.35. 888,226 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 6,007,365 shares. The stock had previously closed at $107.80.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABT. Edward Jones cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup dropped 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. 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. Finally, Raymond James restated a “buy” rating and set a $124.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.00.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.1 %

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 market cap of $191.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $105.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.80.

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

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 25,085 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,761,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 11,165 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,160,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. Encompass More Asset Management boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.3% in the second quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 3,002 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.9% during the first quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Berger Financial Group Inc raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 3,423 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.