263,911 Shares in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Bought by Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 263,911 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock, valued at approximately $29,120,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $3,963,974,000 after buying an additional 488,764 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,942,709,000 after acquiring an additional 280,441 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,102,204 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,265,762,000 after purchasing an additional 585,915 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ABT. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $132.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of ABT opened at $125.12 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $217.01 billion, a PE ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. 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’s fifty day moving average is $115.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $113.39. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $125.67.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11,029,400 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 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.