Abbott Laboratories Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ABT)

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 20,696 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 61% compared to the average volume of 12,856 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In related news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 71,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,625,404.96. The trade was a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $131,123.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,277,222.77. This trade represents a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316 in the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth about $2,373,461,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 383.1% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,358,698 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $945,453,000 after purchasing an additional 6,628,310 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $635,056,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 67,972,953 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,688,160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,229,026 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $125.46 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $217.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $99.71 and a 12-month high of $141.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.12.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 30.85%.

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.