AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Price Target Raised to $231.00

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) had its price target boosted by Morgan Stanley from $218.00 to $231.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. William Blair raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.00.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $203.55 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $179.49. AbbVie has a 12 month low of $135.85 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $359.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 226.99% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that AbbVie will post 10.9 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter worth $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 61.2% during the third quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.