Morgan Stanley Cuts AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Price Target to $224.00

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $231.00 to $224.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

ABBV has been the subject of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.83.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.4 %

AbbVie stock opened at $169.63 on Tuesday. AbbVie has a fifty-two week low of $136.30 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $193.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.84. The company has a market capitalization of $299.76 billion, a PE ratio of 58.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that AbbVie will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $646,000. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 8.4% in the first quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 4,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. TBH Global Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.3% in the first quarter. TBH Global Asset Management LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 20.2% in the first quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 73,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,466,000 after purchasing an additional 12,419 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.