Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.55

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given 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 dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th.

Abbott Laboratories has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 53 consecutive 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 Stock Down 0.5 %

Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $113.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,520,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,811,661. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $89.67 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The company has a market capitalization of $197.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Edward Jones downgraded Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.