Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Issues Q4 Earnings Guidance

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) issued an update on its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $1.31-1.37 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 4.640-4.700 EPS.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $116.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $113.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.34. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $90.87 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The company has a market capitalization of $201.87 billion, a PE ratio of 36.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABT. Raymond James reiterated a buy rating and set a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an overweight rating and a $131.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a hold rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an outperform rating and a $130.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $125.54.

Insider Activity at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.