Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Short Interest Update

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,320,000 shares, a growth of 18.3% from the December 15th total of 12,100,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABT. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James reissued a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded down $0.46 on Friday, reaching $113.45. The company had a trading volume of 6,443,213 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,199,178. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.48, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 66.87%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 2nd quarter valued at about $264,876,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $191,515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,170 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,764,061 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,144,818,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,040 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.