AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Up 0.1% After Analyst Upgrade

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price was up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Friday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $210.00 to $215.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. AbbVie traded as high as $195.24 and last traded at $194.64. Approximately 454,333 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 5,291,692 shares. The stock had previously closed at $194.35.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ABBV. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.00.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at $89,792,325. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Able Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. IFS Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $342.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $194.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.39.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.91 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

About AbbVie

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.