AbbVie’s (ABBV) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reissued their overweight rating on shares of AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $289.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $284.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $256.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $214.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. HSBC set a $225.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $227.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.57.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $218.92 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $386.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.25, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.50. AbbVie has a one year low of $163.81 and a one year high of $244.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $223.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $202.30.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.09. AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%.The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. AbbVie has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 3.320-3.360 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th will be given a $1.73 dividend. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 16th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.64. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 524.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total transaction of $8,407,055.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,288,200,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,819,154,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 18,384.4% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,705,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,059,141,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675,095 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 550.9% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,332,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $804,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,666,521 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 31.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,068,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,187 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.