Analysts Set AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) PT at $199.39

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $201.00.

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America raised their price objective on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after buying an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,698,847,000 after purchasing an additional 992,496 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after purchasing an additional 134,239 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,984,490,000 after buying an additional 1,240,434 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $200.47 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $354.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie has a 12-month low of $135.85 and a 12-month high of $207.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $194.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.85.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released 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 net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The firm 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 company earned $2.95 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that AbbVie will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given 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 dividend yield of 3.27%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

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.