Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Releases FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 4.550-4.700 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 4.590. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Abbott Laboratories also updated its FY24 guidance to $4.55-4.70 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABT opened at $107.29 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $114.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.65. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $89.67 and a 52 week high of $121.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.42, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The company had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Abbott Laboratories news, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at $2,223,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $114,115.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,895,094.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have 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 Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,560 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,893,715,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $4,278,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886,954 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 83.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,925,012 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $582,924,000 after purchasing an additional 2,235,314 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,299,250 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,573,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,411 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

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.