The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We at Insider Monkey have plowed through 867 13F filings that hedge funds and well-known value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of September 30th. Hedge funds’ consensus stock picks performed spectacularly over the last 3 years, but 2022 hasn’t been kind to hedge funds. In this article we look at how hedge funds traded Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and determine whether the smart money was really smart about this stock.
Is Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) going to take off soon? Hedge funds were buying. The number of bullish hedge fund positions inched up by 2 lately. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was in 63 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. The all time high for this statistic is 67. Our calculations also showed that ABT isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings).
At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, lithium prices have more than doubled over the past year, so we go through lists like the 10 best EV stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. Keeping this in mind we’re going to take a peek at the key hedge fund action regarding Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT).
Michael Gelband of ExodusPoint Capital
Do Hedge Funds Think ABT Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2021, a total of 63 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 3% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 62 hedge funds with a bullish position in ABT a year ago. So, let’s find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds, Fisher Asset Management held the most valuable stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), which was worth $989.5 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was BlueSpruce Investments which amassed $473.3 million worth of shares. Adage Capital Management, Two Sigma Advisors, and AQR Capital Management were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position BlueSpruce Investments allocated the biggest weight to Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), around 8.24% of its 13F portfolio. Sustainable Insight Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 5.16 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to ABT.
As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds have jumped into Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) headfirst. Woodline Partners, managed by Michael Rockefeller and KarláKroeker, assembled the most valuable position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT). Woodline Partners had $69.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Renaissance Technologies also made a $27.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group, Michael Gelband’s ExodusPoint Capital, and Brandon Haley’s Holocene Advisors.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) but similarly valued. We will take a look at PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP), Accenture Plc (NYSE:ACN), Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), and AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to ABT’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEP | 61 | 4435441 | -5 |
| ACN | 56 | 4460650 | 4 |
| AVGO | 50 | 2706386 | 3 |
| COST | 55 | 4393346 | 1 |
| CVX | 51 | 4442202 | 1 |
| T | 66 | 3212098 | -2 |
| ABBV | 81 | 4140050 | -1 |
| Average | 60 | 3970025 | 0.1 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 60 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $3970 million. That figure was $3612 million in ABT’s case. AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) is the least popular one with only 50 bullish hedge fund positions. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for ABT is 56.2. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 29.6% in 2021 and still beat the market by 3.6 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on ABT as the stock returned 8.7% since the end of Q3 (through 1/31) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Follow Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)
Follow Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
