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

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid 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 raised its dividend by an average of 12.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 53 years. Abbott Laboratories has a payout ratio of 42.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Performance

Shares of ABT stock opened at $113.69 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $89.67 and a one year high of $121.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $110.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.60. The firm has a market cap of $197.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 price target for the company. Edward Jones cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Two 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.33.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at $25,617,068.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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.