AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Upgraded by Leerink Partners to Outperform Rating

Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. Leerink Partners currently has $206.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on ABBV. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV stock opened at $176.94 on Friday. AbbVie has a 52 week low of $137.65 and a 52 week high of $207.32. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $312.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results 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. The firm 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 revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.