Nordea Investment Management AB Grows Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 52.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 280,090 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after buying an additional 96,567 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $31,712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during 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 period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the second quarter worth $264,876,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $191,515,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $771,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,835 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $143.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE ABT traded up $0.78 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $114.18. The stock had a trading volume of 4,455,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,755,701. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.38. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $121.64. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. Abbott Laboratories's revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. 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 payout ratio is 71.73%.

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.