Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Stock Forecast and Price Target (2026)

The average target of $118.42 sits above the $105.70 price, +12.0%. The median is $118.50, and where the two differ the median is the steadier read, because one unusually high or low target cannot drag it.

The published targets span $103.00 to $135.00. That gap is 27% of the average target, which counts as narrow disagreement. A spread that tight means the analysts broadly agree on the model, so the consensus is a reasonably stable read rather than an average of wildly different views.

The useful move is to read the high target as one bull scenario and the low target as one bear scenario, then ask which set of assumptions you find more plausible. Both cases are worked through on the ABT is it a buy page.

In the last six months there have been 6 raises and 2 cuts among these actions. The direction of revisions is often more telling than the level, because it shows which way informed opinion is moving.

Of the analysts with a published rating, 20 say buy, 7 say hold, and 0 say sell, so 74% carry a buy. That mix has been broadly steady over the last three months.

Read the distribution rather than the label. Sell ratings are rare across the entire market for structural reasons, so a stock with no sell ratings is unremarkable, while even a handful of them is worth understanding.

• It is a 12-month model output. An analyst picks assumptions for revenue, margin, and a multiple, and the target falls out of the arithmetic. Change one assumption and the target moves a lot.
• The distribution is skewed. Sell-side coverage carries far more buy ratings than sell ratings across the whole market, so the average is not a balanced vote.
• Targets follow price as often as they lead it. Revisions frequently arrive after a move, not before, which is why a rising target is weak evidence on its own.
• Nobody is scored on it. There is no cost to a target that never gets close, so treat accuracy as unverified unless you check the firm's record yourself.

In short: the drivers cited most often are FreeStyle Libre: A Platform, Not Just a Product, Cardiovascular and Electrophysiology Momentum, Cancer Diagnostics Expansion via Exact Sciences. The risk cited most often against it is the most acute near-term risk is infant formula litigation: juries have delivered verdicts including a $53 million compensatory award in late March 2026 and a separately upheld $495 million verdict, with hundreds of additional NEC-related cases still pending, and a securities class action filed in 2026 adds a parallel legal exposure track targeting alleged investor misstatements.

Both sides are worked through properly, with the high and low targets used as the bull and bear anchors, on the ABT is it a buy page. This page deliberately stops at the numbers.