AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Price Target Raised to $226.00

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) had its price objective increased by Citigroup from $215.00 to $226.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.00.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $203.55 on Thursday. AbbVie has a one year low of $135.85 and a one year high of $207.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $194.12 and a 200 day moving average of $179.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $359.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.68, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 10.9 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GGM Financials LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,575,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Frisch Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. First Citizens Financial Corp grew its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,710,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. 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.