Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) had its price objective upped by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $218.00 to $231.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 12.44% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on ABBV. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.11.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV opened at $205.44 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $193.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.91. AbbVie has a 1 year low of $135.85 and a 1 year high of $207.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $362.78 billion, a PE ratio of 59.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 10.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 61.2% during the 3rd quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 216 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.