AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Up 0.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Friday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $215.00 to $226.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. AbbVie traded as high as $204.40 and last traded at $204.00. 730,555 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 5,311,648 shares. The stock had previously closed at $203.87.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on ABBV. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.00.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. GGM Financials LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.7% in the third quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp grew its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 0.4% in the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,710,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $360.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.83, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.09.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly 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. AbbVie had a return on equity of 226.99% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors 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 yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.