Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.55

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.55 per share by the healthcare product maker on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th.

Abbott Laboratories has raised its dividend by an average of 12.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 53 consecutive years. Abbott Laboratories has a payout ratio of 42.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Abbott Laboratories to earn $5.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.9%.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT opened at $116.12 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $202.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.17, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $113.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.30. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $89.67 and a 12-month high of $121.64.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ABT shares. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $125.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.