Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.59

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.59 per share by the healthcare product maker on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55.

Abbott Laboratories has increased its dividend by an average of 12.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 53 years. Abbott Laboratories has a dividend payout ratio of 42.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Abbott Laboratories to earn $5.14 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 42.8%.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $113.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,199,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,608,857. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $99.71 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The stock has a market cap of $196.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $116.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $111.06.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ABT. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler Companies initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.07.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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.