AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Rating Increased to Outperform at Leerink Partners

Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $206.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on ABBV. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays increased their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim upped their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $176.94 on Friday. AbbVie has a 12 month low of $137.65 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $312.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.04.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in AbbVie by 100.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.