AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Up 0.6% on Analyst Upgrade

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price traded up 0.6% during trading on Wednesday after Guggenheim raised their price target on the stock from $212.00 to $221.00. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the stock. AbbVie traded as high as $206.15 and last traded at $202.99. 1,437,279 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 5,301,912 shares. The stock had previously closed at $201.68.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ABBV. Bank of America lifted their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Finally, William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.72.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 6.2% in the 1st 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 during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the third 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 shares of AbbVie by 249.1% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% in the 1st 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, TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 156.0% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $632,619,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,997 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $194.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.25. The company has a market cap of $355.39 billion, a PE ratio of 69.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.97 EPS for the current 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 3.26%. 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.