AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Berenberg Bank upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. Berenberg Bank now has a $270.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $170.00. AbbVie traded as high as $221.85 and last traded at $220.65, with a volume of 894906 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $220.81.

ABBV has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $214.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.68.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 177,298,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,910,186,000 after acquiring an additional 3,380,842 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.4% in 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 buying an additional 924,761 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.0% in 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 buying an additional 1,517,222 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,288,200,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,013,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,612,357,000 after buying an additional 189,294 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.5%

The company has a market cap of $392.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $202.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.91.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 312.38%.

AbbVie Company Profile

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.