AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-four research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $205.50.

Several research firms have commented on ABBV. Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $206.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Daiwa America cut AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.9 %

ABBV stock traded down $3.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $175.18. The stock had a trading volume of 5,311,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,080,179. The business has a 50-day moving average of $178.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $309.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase 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 3.74%. AbbVie's payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 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.