AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $201.00.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chairman now 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter worth $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter worth $27,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $203.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $194.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $179.49. 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 company has a market capitalization of $359.54 billion, a PE ratio of 70.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie has a 12-month low of $135.85 and a 12-month high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that AbbVie will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

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.