Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Up 1.2% – Here’s Why

Posted by Geri Gentry on May 16th, 2026

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Free Report)’s share price shot up 1.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $85.27 and last traded at $84.7990. 10,869,644 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 11,917,619 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on ABT. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $131.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Daiwa Securities Group lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $150.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $119.43.

View Our Latest Report on ABT

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $99.02 and its 200-day moving average is $113.35. The firm has a market cap of $147.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.65.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 17.62%. The business had revenue of $11.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Abbott Laboratories has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.380-5.580 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.250-1.310 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were paid a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 70.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CFO Philip P. Boudreau acquired 2,200 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $91.50 per share, with a total value of $201,300.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer owned 2,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $201,300. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel J. Starks acquired 10,000 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $92.65 per share, with a total value of $926,500.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 6,751,103 shares in the company, valued at $625,489,692.95. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 3,055 shares of company stock worth $353,097 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories during the 1st quarter worth $180,510,000. Excelsior Advisor Network LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Excelsior Advisor Network LLC now owns 2,614 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 10,262 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 994.2% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 23,995 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $2,463,000 after acquiring an additional 21,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Chip Partners LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC now owns 208,691 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $21,426,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of medical products and services. Founded in 1888, Abbott operates through multiple business areas that focus on diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and established pharmaceuticals. The company supplies hospitals, clinics, laboratories, retailers and direct-to-consumer channels with products intended to diagnose, treat and manage a wide range of health conditions.

In diagnostics, Abbott provides laboratory and point-of-care testing platforms and assays used to detect infectious diseases, chronic conditions and biomarkers; its Alinity family of instruments and rapid-test solutions are examples of this capability.