Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

ABT has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $119.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.32.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $103.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $81.97 and a one year high of $132.02. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $105.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.32. The company has a market capitalization of $179.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.59.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The healthcare product maker reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42. The company had revenue of $13.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.99 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.97% and a net margin of 9.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 94.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the third quarter valued at about $241,000. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 40.3% during the third quarter. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC now owns 888 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 7.3% during the third quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,257,000 after buying an additional 863 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 5,878 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $581,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Finally, Compass Ion Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC now owns 5,106 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $505,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Abbott Laboratories

Here are the key news stories impacting Abbott Laboratories this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New data presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology showed Abbott’s whole-genome sequencing Oncodetect® test delivered a 30% absolute improvement in sensitivity for detecting colorectal-cancer recurrence within two years of surgery. Patients with detectable molecular residual disease also faced a 10.6-fold higher recurrence risk, supporting the test’s clinical value and Abbott’s broader cancer-care strategy. Abbott Oncodetect ESMO data
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo upgraded its stance to “overweight” and raised its price target to $119, while other analysts retained buy or outperform ratings. These targets imply substantial potential upside and suggest Wall Street views the recent pullback as excessive. Wells Fargo rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Abbott’s pacemaker and molecular-diagnostics markets are projected to grow, providing long-term demand opportunities. However, the reports also identify procedure costs, regulatory hurdles, cybersecurity risks and changing disease prevalence as industry constraints. Pacemaker market forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about Abbott’s lowered 2026 sales-growth outlook. Management cited diabetes-related pricing pressure and weakness in the electrophysiology portfolio, issues that overshadowed a third-quarter earnings and revenue performance that broadly met expectations. Abbott 2026 guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Abbott plans to spin off its approximately $8.5 billion Nutrition business by 2027. Although the transaction could sharpen the company’s focus and unlock value, investors face near-term uncertainty over separation costs, portfolio mix and the growth profile of the remaining business. Abbott Nutrition spin-off
• Negative Sentiment: A comparative study claimed Catheter Precision’s LockeT device outperformed Abbott’s Perclose vascular-closure system. The potential competitive risk appears limited without evidence of meaningful revenue impact, but it adds pressure to Abbott’s medical-device franchise. LockeT and Perclose study

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of medical products and services. Founded in 1888 by Wallace C. Abbott, the company is headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, and serves patients, healthcare providers and consumers in markets around the world.

Abbott operates across four principal businesses: medical devices, diagnostics, nutrition and established pharmaceutical products. Its offerings include glucose-monitoring systems such as FreeStyle Libre; cardiovascular devices, including stents and structural heart products; laboratory and point-of-care diagnostic systems; and branded generic medicines in areas such as gastroenterology, women’s health and cardiometabolic care.

The company’s nutrition portfolio includes infant and pediatric products such as Similac and PediaSure, adult nutritional products such as Ensure, and rehydration products such as Pedialyte.