Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Issues Earnings Results

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34, Zacks reports. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11,029,400 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE ABT opened at $117.76 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.04. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.73. 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 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on ABT shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.93.

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.