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

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $203.50.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim upped their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after purchasing an additional 134,239 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 3.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,691,732,000 after purchasing an additional 511,470 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 12.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,984,490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,434 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,009,542,000 after purchasing an additional 582,953 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $176.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $189.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.04. AbbVie has a 1 year low of $137.65 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The firm has a market cap of $312.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.44, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AbbVie will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. 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.