Natixis Advisors LLC Has $162.24 Million Stock Holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Free Report) by 16.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,423,015 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock after acquiring an additional 204,478 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of Abbott Laboratories worth $162,238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABT. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $7,976,382,000 after buying an additional 5,882,780 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the first quarter valued at about $341,777,000. Sessa Capital IM L.P. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter worth about $264,876,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 493.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,401,190 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock valued at $249,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,996,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product maker's stock worth $191,515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,170 shares during the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ABT shares. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. Edward Jones cut Abbott Laboratories from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Mizuho raised 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $130.07.

Insider Transactions at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total value of $16,492,852.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. The trade was a 39.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

Shares of ABT traded up $0.87 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $115.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,898,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,701,520. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $97.64 and a one year high of $121.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.72. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $115.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.49.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Abbott Laboratories's payout ratio is presently 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.