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

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,RTT News reports. Investors 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 yield of 2.08%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55.

Abbott Laboratories has raised its dividend by an average of 12.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 53 consecutive years. Abbott Laboratories has a dividend payout ratio of 42.6% meaning 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 $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.8%.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $113.38. 4,550,900 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,618,930. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.46, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. The company's 50 day moving average price is $116.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.19.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $129.00 target price (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $130.71.

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.