Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Purchased by Annex Advisory Services LLC

Annex Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,028 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,177 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $8,260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 22.2% during 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 stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ABT shares. Raymond James reissued a "buy" rating and set a $129.00 price objective (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Monday, October 14th. 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 report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ABT traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $113.45. 6,443,213 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,199,178. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. 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 has a twelve month low of $99.71 and a twelve month high of $121.64.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.87%.

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.