AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $203.50.

Several brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. William Blair raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. TD Cowen upped their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp increased its position in AbbVie by 486.1% during the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank raised its stake in AbbVie by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 308.1% in the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,624,000 after purchasing an additional 24,756 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,169,000 after purchasing an additional 10,768 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $182.93 on Friday. AbbVie has a 52-week low of $138.01 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $323.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.52, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.75.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie will post 10.95 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase 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.