AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Up 1.1% – Here’s Why

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares rose 1.1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $257.06 and last traded at $256.18. Approximately 4,267,353 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 7,100,591 shares. The stock had previously closed at $253.38.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ABBV. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, June 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on AbbVie from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on AbbVie from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $298.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.67.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.1%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $230.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $222.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $452.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 126.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.30.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.18 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 340.89%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 180,779,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,306,353,000 after buying an additional 3,032,438 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in AbbVie by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,940,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,494,193,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119,274 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,629,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,179,099,000 after acquiring an additional 4,190,487 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in AbbVie by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,824,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,900,617,000 after acquiring an additional 356,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,865,055,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.