Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Freedom Capital

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was upgraded by investment analysts at Freedom Capital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on ABT. Weiss Ratings cut Abbott Laboratories from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $132.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $152.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $144.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.75.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT opened at $109.31 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $122.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $127.49. Abbott Laboratories has a twelve month low of $105.27 and a twelve month high of $141.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $190.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 14.72% and a return on equity of 17.94%. The company had revenue of $11.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.80 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. Abbott Laboratories’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Abbott Laboratories has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.120-1.180 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.550-5.800 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABT. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,026,180,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 13,347.0% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,056,934 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $823,804,000 after purchasing an additional 6,011,891 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 51.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,951,907 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,868,718,000 after purchasing an additional 4,713,135 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $23,502,644,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977,715 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth $336,815,000. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Abbott Laboratories

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.