Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 16,167 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 16% compared to the average daily volume of 13,890 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ABT. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Piper Sandler Companies assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $131.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $1,044,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,401 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $4,150,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.1% in the third quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 7,353 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $838,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $534,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock traded up $5.37 on Friday, hitting $118.74. 5,576,652 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,704,344. The stock has a market cap of $206.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.72. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $92.43 and a 1-year high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $114.82 and a 200-day moving average of $108.78.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.30% and a net margin of 13.99%. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 66.87%.

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.