Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $120.73, but opened at $107.53. Abbott Laboratories shares last traded at $112.1370, with a volume of 14,253,793 shares trading hands.

Key Stories Impacting Abbott Laboratories

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

• Positive Sentiment: Adjusted earnings met expectations and showed year‑over‑year improvement (adjusted EPS $1.50; adjusted EPS growth noted). This supports cash flow and the company’s ability to continue dividends and buybacks. Abbott (ABT) Matches Q4 Earnings Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: MedTech and Established Pharmaceuticals were sources of strength (double‑digit MedTech growth, pharma gains), partially offsetting weaker segments and supporting management’s message of recovering core operations. Is Abbott’s January Pullback a Good Time to Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Company released full Q4 press release, slide deck and earnings call transcript — useful for digging into segment detail and one‑time items that affected GAAP results. Investors should review the slides/call for wording on Exact Sciences closing and cost assumptions. Abbott Q4 Press Release / Slide Deck
• Neutral Sentiment: Full earnings call transcript is available for color on guidance cadence, product trends and timing on cost or merger-related charges that impacted GAAP EPS. Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue missed Street forecasts (reported ~$11.46B vs ~$11.8B expected), driven by declines in Nutrition (~‑9%) and weakness in Diagnostics — that miss was the immediate trigger for selling pressure. Abbott misses quarterly revenue estimates on weakness in diagnostics segment
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term guidance disappointed: Q1 EPS guide (1.12–1.18) came in below consensus (~1.20) and full‑year adjusted EPS range (5.55–5.80) left little upside versus expectations — investors punished the stock on muted near‑term visibility. Abbott Labs Stock Hits 52-Week Low As Outlook Disappoints
• Negative Sentiment: GAAP vs. adjusted EPS divergence and reported one‑time items (GAAP diluted EPS lower) raised questions about non‑operating impacts and drove intraday volatility; heavier selling pushed the stock toward its 52‑week low on high volume. QuiverQuant Q4 Results Summary

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ABT. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.42.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 10.2%

The stock has a market capitalization of $188.52 billion, a PE ratio of 13.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $125.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.70.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted 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 31.88% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The business had revenue of $11.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratories’s quarterly revenue 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. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio is 31.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. IMG Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 759.1% in the 2nd quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 189 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter worth $29,000. Guerra Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Anfield Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 81.3% in the second quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 232 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

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.