Abbott Laboratories reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday, helped by strong demand for its diagnostics, and boosted its quarterly dividend by more than 50 percent.Lower taxes and cost-cutting also helped Abbott beat earnings forecasts, analysts said. The company's shares jumped 4.5 percent in early trading to $35.23."The 57 percent dividend hike is the big news," Jefferies analyst Jeffrey Holford said in a research note. Abbott said it would boost its dividend to 22 cents per share from 14 cents, starting with the Feb. 15 payment.RBC Capital Markets analyst Glenn Novarro said the dividend's annual yield will grow to 2.7 percent, and likely attract investors following recent declines in Abbott shares related to worries about weakness of its nutritional business.
Abbott Laboratories (Abbott) is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a portfolio of science-based health care products. Shares of ABT traded higher by 5.13% or $1.73/share to $35.44. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $30.05 and as high as $38.77. On average, 7318050 shares of ABT exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3097366.
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