AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on ABBV. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $170.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on AbbVie from $227.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.80.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $227.98 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $221.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $199.58. AbbVie has a 52-week low of $163.81 and a 52-week high of $244.81. The firm has a market cap of $402.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.56, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The business had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that AbbVie will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 312.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value of $8,407,055.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total transaction of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This trade represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 177,298,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,910,186,000 after acquiring an additional 3,380,842 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,178,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,240,169,000 after purchasing an additional 924,761 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 26,783,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,970,848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,517,222 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,288,200,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,013,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,612,357,000 after purchasing an additional 189,294 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.