Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 80,621 put options on the company. This is an increase of 683% compared to the typical volume of 10,296 put options.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock traded down $12.23 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $108.50. 37,067,149 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,484,725. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $125.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $128.68. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $105.78 and a 52 week high of $141.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.67 billion, a PE ratio of 13.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The company had revenue of $11.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.80 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 31.88%.The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be given a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 15th. This is an increase from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 31.58%.

Key Stories Impacting Abbott Laboratories

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

• Positive Sentiment: Med‑tech and pharma strength plus margin improvement—Abbott’s Med Tech and Established Pharmaceuticals showed healthy growth and adjusted EPS expanded, supporting the company’s multi‑year earnings outlook. Abbott press release
• Positive Sentiment: Company gave full‑year 2026 adjusted EPS and organic sales targets (adjusted EPS $5.55–$5.80; organic sales growth 6.5%–7.5%), signaling management expects recovery in revenue mix and continued margin expansion. Guidance release
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains generally constructive with multiple buy/overweight ratings and above‑consensus price targets, which could support a rebound after the pullback. MarketBeat analyst summary
• Neutral Sentiment: Adjusted EPS of $1.50 matched Street estimates (while GAAP EPS was lower due to one‑time items), so the bottom line wasn’t a surprise — the market reaction centers on the revenue miss and outlook rather than an earnings shock. Zacks: EPS match
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call transcript and company slide deck are available for deeper nuance on segment trends and FX/one‑time items — useful for investors deciding if the revenue miss is temporary. Earnings call transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue missed estimates ($11.46B vs. ~$11.8B expected); Nutrition (~‑9%) and Diagnostics weakness were the primary drivers — published reporting also ties recent price increases to a sales slump, amplifying investor concern about demand elasticity. WSJ: Prices prompted sales slump
• Negative Sentiment: Q1 2026 EPS guidance (1.120–1.180) came in below consensus, and the mixed outlook helped trigger a broad selloff and pushed the shares to fresh lows on heavy volume. Benzinga: Stock drops on muted outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Diagnostics segment volatility (lower COVID testing and headwinds from frozen foreign aid) remains an overhang on near‑term revenue growth until volumes normalize. Reuters: Diagnostics weakness

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 172,800,851 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $23,502,644,000 after acquiring an additional 2,977,715 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 78,354,270 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $10,656,964,000 after purchasing an additional 689,517 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 2.5% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 61,614,739 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $8,251,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,478,076 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 3.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,293,067 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,184,589,000 after buying an additional 1,390,554 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the second quarter valued at about $3,026,180,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $162.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Daiwa Capital Markets upped their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $134.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. William Blair raised Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $157.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.42.

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.