USA Financial Formulas Makes New Investment in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,855 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock, valued at approximately $436,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABT. Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 228,448 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41,557 shares in the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth $32,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT stock traded up $2.13 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $113.23. The stock had a trading volume of 3,373,737 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,701,913. The firm has a market cap of $196.39 billion, a PE ratio of 34.42, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $115.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.18% and a net margin of 13.99%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ABT. Barclays boosted 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 upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $131.57.

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.