AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $167.69.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABBV. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $163.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. TheStreet upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Monday, August 28th. William Blair began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of AbbVie from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $170.00 in a report on Monday, October 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 0.3% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 139,161,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,749,269,000 after acquiring an additional 440,286 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in AbbVie by 1.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 78,182,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,533,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,156,130 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in AbbVie by 0.9% in the second quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 43,152,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,813,873,000 after acquiring an additional 404,379 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 2.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,952,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,697,046,000 after acquiring an additional 907,917 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in AbbVie by 2.9% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,175,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,796,085,000 after acquiring an additional 914,485 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.86% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $138.31 on Tuesday. AbbVie has a 1 year low of $130.96 and a 1 year high of $168.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.59, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company’s 50-day moving average is $146.37 and its 200 day moving average is $143.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $244.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 27th. The company reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $13.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.72 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.81% and a return on equity of 152.70%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie will post 11.24 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 12th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 169.86%.

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.