Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Releases FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 4.550-4.700 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 4.590. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Abbott Laboratories also updated its Q2 2024 guidance to 1.080-1.120 EPS.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $3.34 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $105.87. 9,542,902 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,637,811. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.60. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $89.67 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64. The stock has a market cap of $183.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.19. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.19 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.65% and a net margin of 14.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 67.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ABT shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $128.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. TheStreet upgraded Abbott Laboratories from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $122.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at $7,315,537.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 42,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $4,781,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,027 shares in the company, valued at $7,315,537.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 56,435 shares of company stock worth $6,451,298. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,444,700 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $17,219,868,000 after buying an additional 679,359 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,278,132,000 after buying an additional 4,886,954 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,320,866,000 after buying an additional 30,218,560 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter valued at $1,893,715,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,299,250 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,573,920,000 after buying an additional 1,873,411 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

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.