AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Up 1.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price was up 1.4% on Thursday after Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on the stock from $273.00 to $282.00. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. AbbVie traded as high as $258.38 and last traded at $256.80. 4,410,052 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 7,082,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $253.30.

ABBV has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, June 8th. DZ Bank raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim upped their target price on AbbVie from $249.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $258.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.10.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ACT Advisors LLC. grew its position in AbbVie by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. now owns 1,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Willner & Heller LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.7% during the second quarter. Willner & Heller LLC now owns 5,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,472,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.1% during the second quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 1,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 7,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,648,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leslie Global Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.5% in the second quarter. Leslie Global Wealth LLC now owns 2,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $232.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.41. The company has a market cap of $453.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 126.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.30.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.72 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.46 EPS. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $1.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 340.89%.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.