AbbVie’s (ABBV) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Piper Sandler Companies

Piper Sandler Companies restated their overweight rating on shares of AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm currently has a $220.00 target price on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Leerink Partnrs raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.70.

AbbVie Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of ABBV opened at $175.42 on Tuesday. AbbVie has a one year low of $151.29 and a one year high of $207.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $309.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that AbbVie will post 10.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 59.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,088,000 after acquiring an additional 781,858 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 7.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,841,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,516,358,000 after purchasing an additional 623,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after buying an additional 582,953 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.