Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $107.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.17 billion, a PE ratio of 33.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.74. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $89.67 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $114.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.65.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABT. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,560 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,893,715,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,278,132,000 after acquiring an additional 4,886,954 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 83.1% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,925,012 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $582,924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,235,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,299,250 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,573,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,411 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.