AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Receives $205.50 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $205.50.

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.4 %

ABBV opened at $173.68 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. AbbVie has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $306.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $176.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.54.

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. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that AbbVie will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in AbbVie by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.