Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Trading Down 1.4%

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)’s stock price dropped 1.4% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $108.99 and last traded at $109.76. Approximately 1,862,921 shares changed 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 recent research reports. Raymond James restated a “buy” rating and issued a $124.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Edward Jones cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.00.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.25, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 directly owns 211,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,928.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,115,836,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,788,216,000 after acquiring an additional 8,834,840 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,588,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $9,530,825,000 after acquiring an additional 7,527,778 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,882,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 12,577.8% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,772,670 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $415,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,742,912 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.