Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Updates Q4 Earnings Guidance

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a hold rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an overweight rating and a $131.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an outperform rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $125.54.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of ABT 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. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $90.87 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The stock has a market cap of $201.87 billion, a PE ratio of 36.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $113.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.34.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analyst estimates of $10.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,617,068.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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.