AbbVie’s (ABBV) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their overweight rating on shares of AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $200.00 price objective on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $191.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial reiterated a buy rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $188.71.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $190.31 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $336.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.47, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.64. AbbVie has a twelve month low of $135.85 and a twelve month high of $193.91. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 186.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie will post 10.87 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $49,497,875.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,229,888,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after buying an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in AbbVie by 249.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,357,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120,310 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in AbbVie by 6.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in AbbVie by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,422,613 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,305,252,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390,239 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.