AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Upgraded at Leerink Partnrs

Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Friday morning,Zacks.com reports. Leerink Partnrs also issued estimates for AbbVie’s FY2026 earnings at $13.69 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $15.36 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $16.79 EPS.

ABBV has been the subject of several other reports. Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Stock Up 3.0 %

ABBV stock opened at $176.95 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $189.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $312.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.44, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie has a one year low of $137.65 and a one year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after buying an additional 4,471,806 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $367,372,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 12.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,984,490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 314.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,315,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,549,000 after purchasing an additional 997,441 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.