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

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 71,494 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 640% compared to the typical daily volume of 9,665 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ABT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,518,539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter worth about $264,876,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $191,515,000 after buying an additional 1,667,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $771,940,000 after buying an additional 1,596,835 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.2 %

Abbott Laboratories stock traded down $0.22 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $112.97. 3,939,157 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,540,740. The company’s 50-day moving average is $115.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.60. The firm has a market cap of $195.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 71.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. 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 report on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.57.

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.