The Smart Money’s Confidence in Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Continues to Rise

With general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Highland Capital Management established the most outsized call position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT). Highland Capital Management had $145 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Senator Investment Group also initiated an $88.8 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new ABT investors: Matthew Halbower’s Pentwater Capital Management, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, and Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management.

Let’s now review 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 Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY), Rio Tinto plc (ADR) (NYSE:RIO), E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD), and Banco Santander, S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:SAN). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to ABT’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 27.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.28 billion. That figure was $1.82 billion in ABT’s case. Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Banco Santander, S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:SAN) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers and sentiment towards it has steadily improved in recent quarters, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.

Disclosure: None