Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) had its price target lifted by Morgan Stanley from $218.00 to $231.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on ABBV. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Bank of America increased their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.00.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.2 %

AbbVie stock opened at $203.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $360.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. AbbVie has a twelve month low of $135.85 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $179.09.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that AbbVie will post 10.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Palisade Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 65.6% during the first quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 97,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,726,000 after purchasing an additional 38,562 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 9.0% in the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,506,000 after buying an additional 2,657 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 308.1% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,624,000 after purchasing an additional 24,756 shares in the last quarter. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie during the second quarter worth about $1,349,000. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 29.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 27,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,333,000 after acquiring an additional 6,161 shares during the period. 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.