Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $231.00 to $224.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

ABBV has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup increased their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.83.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $169.63 on Tuesday. AbbVie has a one year low of $136.30 and a one year high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $193.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $299.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (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 244.01%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $1,092,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $245,000. B&L Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $977,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $25,356,000. Finally, Bellevue Group AG increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 42,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,469,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.