Jennison Associates LLC Increases Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 22,372.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,201,364 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,196,018 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $135,886,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 354,435 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $40,409,000 after acquiring an additional 22,932 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 28,025 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,195,000 after purchasing an additional 5,616 shares in the last quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 23.1% during the third quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 7,616 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,427 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.3% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 70,847 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $8,077,000 after buying an additional 12,938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth about $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABT. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Mizuho increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $127.69 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.32. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $129.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.69, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.74. 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 (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This trade represents a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.