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

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seventeen have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $205.70.

Several brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.9 %

ABBV opened at $180.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $318.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $182.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $183.69. 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 (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 10.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.78%.

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.