AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading 0.1% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price shot 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. 730,555 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 5,311,648 shares. The stock had previously closed at $203.87.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ABBV. Piper Sandler increased their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after acquiring an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $933,698,000 after purchasing an additional 4,471,806 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in AbbVie by 249.1% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120,310 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in AbbVie by 6.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,758,789,000 after buying an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 156.0% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $632,619,000 after buying an additional 2,116,997 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $194.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $359.54 billion, a PE ratio of 70.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a 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 payout ratio is 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.