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

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBVFree Report) 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.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on AbbVie

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:ABBVGet Free Report) 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

(Get Free Report)

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.

See Also

Analyst Recommendations for AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)

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