AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Price Target Cut to $224.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $231.00 to $224.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on ABBV. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.06.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $171.10 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.83. AbbVie has a 12-month low of $136.30 and a 12-month high of $207.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a market cap of $302.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.41, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,698,000 after buying an additional 4,471,806 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in AbbVie by 249.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,357,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120,310 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,758,789,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $367,372,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.