Looking At Abbott Laboratories's Recent Unusual Options Activity

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on Abbott Laboratories ABT.

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with ABT, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what these investors just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 25 uncommon options trades for Abbott Laboratories.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 12% bullish and 88%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 3 are puts, for a total amount of $174,865, and 22 are calls, for a total amount of $1,793,871.

What's The Price Target?

Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $95.0 to $130.0 for Abbott Laboratories over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Trends

Looking at the volume and open interest is a powerful move while trading options. This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Abbott Laboratories's options for a given strike price. Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of Abbott Laboratories's whale trades within a strike price range from $95.0 to $130.0 in the last 30 days.

Abbott Laboratories Option Activity Analysis: Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott manufactures and markets cardiovascular and diabetes devices, adult and pediatric nutritional products, diagnostic equipment and testing kits, and branded generic drugs. Products include pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, neuromodulation devices, coronary stents, catheters, infant formula, nutritional liquids for adults, continuous glucose monitors, and immunoassays and point-of-care diagnostic equipment. Abbott derives approximately 60% of sales outside the United States.

In light of the recent options history for Abbott Laboratories, it's now appropriate to focus on the company itself. We aim to explore its current performance.

Current Position of Abbott Laboratories

• Trading volume stands at 1,656,612, with ABT's price up by 0.22%, positioned at $113.7.
• RSI indicators show the stock to be may be approaching overbought.
• Earnings announcement expected in 78 days.

Expert Opinions on Abbott Laboratories

A total of 5 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $129.2.

• An analyst from Citigroup persists with their Buy rating on Abbott Laboratories, maintaining a target price of $126.
• An analyst from Raymond James has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Abbott Laboratories, which currently sits at a price target of $124.
• Maintaining their stance, an analyst from RBC Capital continues to hold a Outperform rating for Abbott Laboratories, targeting a price of $128.
• Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Barclays keeps a Overweight rating on Abbott Laboratories with a target price of $141.
• An analyst from Raymond James persists with their Outperform rating on Abbott Laboratories, maintaining a target price of $127.

Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.

If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Abbott Laboratories, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.