AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $165.79.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. TheStreet upgraded AbbVie from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $163.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. HSBC started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $167.00 target price for the company. Credit Suisse Group lowered their price target on shares of AbbVie from $170.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 12th. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $148.36 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.33, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.77. AbbVie has a one year low of $130.96 and a one year high of $168.11. The company has a market cap of $261.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.53, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $143.10 and a 200-day moving average of $147.76.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.12. AbbVie had a return on equity of 151.29% and a net margin of 15.50%. The business had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.52 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie will post 11.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, July 14th were paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 13th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 121.81%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 18,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.15, for a total transaction of $2,759,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 625,294 shares in the company, valued at $93,262,600.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 89,097.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,203,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,719,514,000 after purchasing an additional 29,170,366 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 85,216.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 28,082,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,783,603,000 after buying an additional 28,049,942 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,033,348,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 138.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,536,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,432,297,000 after acquiring an additional 12,515,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in AbbVie by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 31,571,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,102,311,000 after acquiring an additional 4,785,277 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.86% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, a therapy administered as an injection for autoimmune, intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq, a JAK inhibitor to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, and ulcerative colitis; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat hematological malignancies.