AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Price Target Raised to $240.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) had its price objective increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $210.00 to $240.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

ABBV has been the subject of a number of other reports. Daiwa Capital Markets cut AbbVie from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research started coverage on AbbVie in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $205.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE ABBV traded up $3.85 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $211.61. The stock had a trading volume of 5,752,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,109,327. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm's 50 day moving average is $186.27 and its 200 day moving average is $187.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $373.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.17, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $215.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,439 shares of company stock valued at $11,377,057 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,459,385,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $1,190,951,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,215,903,000 after acquiring an additional 4,466,971 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after acquiring an additional 3,599,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,246,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,064,773,000 after acquiring an additional 3,373,156 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.