AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Upgraded by Erste Group Bank to “Strong-Buy” Rating

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) was upgraded by research analysts at Erste Group Bank to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on ABBV. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa America cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $212.21 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. AbbVie has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $218.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $374.62 billion, a PE ratio of 88.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $193.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $188.48.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that AbbVie will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,459,385,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,190,951,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,215,903,000 after acquiring an additional 4,466,971 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,875,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,246,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,064,773,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,156 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.