Citigroup Reiterates Neutral Rating for AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by research analysts at Citigroup in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $205.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $210.00. Citigroup’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 12.94% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim raised their target price on AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.95.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV opened at $181.52 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. AbbVie has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $218.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $191.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $187.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $321.10 billion, a PE ratio of 75.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at $11,183,398.72. The trade was a 52.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crestline Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 438.4% in the 4th quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 35,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,275,000 after acquiring an additional 28,753 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in AbbVie by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,367,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,664,489,000 after purchasing an additional 108,993 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its stake in AbbVie by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 971,893 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,705,000 after buying an additional 125,568 shares during the period. Finally, Sky Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,590,000 after buying an additional 3,936 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.