AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 0.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) were up 0.1% during trading on Friday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $215.00 to $226.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. AbbVie traded as high as $204.40 and last traded at $204.00. Approximately 730,555 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 5,311,648 shares. The stock had previously closed at $203.87.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RKL Wealth Management LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,043,000 after purchasing an additional 7,899 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp boosted its stake in AbbVie by 1.1% in the third quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 5,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in AbbVie by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 170,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,694,000 after buying an additional 3,065 shares during the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 13,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,684,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares during the period. Finally, Kerusso Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.5% in the third quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC now owns 6,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after buying an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $359.54 billion, a PE ratio of 70.68, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $194.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.38.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 226.99% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 215.28%.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; Epkinly to treat lymphoma; Elahere to treat cancer; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat blood cancers.