Cantor Fitzgerald Reiterates “Overweight” Rating for AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their overweight rating on shares of AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $200.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an overweight rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday. Finally, HSBC raised shares of AbbVie from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $188.71.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $181.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $168.02 and its 200-day moving average is $169.76. The stock has a market cap of $321.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.99, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.64. AbbVie has a 52-week low of $135.85 and a 52-week high of $186.85.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. The company 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%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie will post 10.79 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth $27,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth $36,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Able Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.