Natixis Advisors L.P. Grows Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 37.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 965,930 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after buying an additional 263,186 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $106,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 236.0% during the fourth quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 336 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 79.4% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 454 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $114,115.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,895,094.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $114,115.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,895,094.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP John A. Jr. Mccoy sold 472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $55,932.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,223,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,935 shares of company stock worth $1,670,048 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $141.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $124.00 price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.50.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $105.88. 3,610,292 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,562,046. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $89.67 and a twelve month high of $121.64. The firm has a market cap of $183.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.98, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.41.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The healthcare product maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 13.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

Abbott Laboratories 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.