Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Raises Dividend to $0.59 Per Share

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of 0.59 per share by the healthcare product maker on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55.

Abbott Laboratories has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 54 consecutive years. Abbott Laboratories has a payout ratio of 41.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Abbott Laboratories to earn $5.14 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 45.9%.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $112.34 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $115.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.54. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $99.71 and a 12 month high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $194.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABT. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.57.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.