Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) had its price target increased by Wells Fargo & Company to $195.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim upped 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. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $176.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $312.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.44, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $189.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.04. AbbVie has a 1 year low of $137.65 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company 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 business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend yield of 3.71%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth about $646,000. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth about $576,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 88,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,136,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the period. Finally, Rodgers Brothers Inc. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 134,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,431,000 after purchasing an additional 4,816 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.