Abbott Laboratories (ABT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.55 on November 15th

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 1.94%. 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 increased its dividend every year for the last 53 years. Abbott Laboratories has a payout ratio of 42.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $113.69 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.60. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $89.67 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a market cap of $197.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42, a PEG ratio of 2.90 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 1.18.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ABT. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup lifted their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.