Abbott Laboratories (ABT) to Distribute Quarterly Dividend of $0.59 on May 15th

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of 0.59 per share by the healthcare product maker on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%.

Abbott Laboratories has raised its dividend by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 53 years. Abbott Laboratories has a dividend payout ratio of 41.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Abbott Laboratories to earn $5.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.2%.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE:ABT opened at $135.04 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $120.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.88. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $135.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $234.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.75.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate 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.