Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Gap Up Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Posted by Defense World Staff on Oct 19th, 2023

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Free Report)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $92.14, but opened at $96.00. Abbott Laboratories shares last traded at $94.86, with a volume of 2,625,322 shares trading hands.

The healthcare product maker reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $10.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.50% and a net margin of 12.83%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 69.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 21st. Wolfe Research upgraded Abbott Laboratories from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Barclays increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $112.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.47.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Abbott Laboratories

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.76, for a total value of $5,688,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,775,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $770,759,948.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.76, for a total value of $5,688,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,775,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $770,759,948.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 10,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.03, for a total transaction of $1,092,312.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,829,785.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Abbott Laboratories

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, CGC Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.70% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 3.7 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.74. The company has a market capitalization of $165.83 billion, a PE ratio of 32.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

About Abbott Laboratories

(Get Free Report)

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 Established Pharmaceutical Products segment 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.