AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Earns “Neutral” Rating from Citigroup

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by investment analysts at Citigroup in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $205.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $210.00. Citigroup’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 12.94% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on ABBV. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group upped their price target on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $194.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.95.

AbbVie Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE ABBV opened at $181.52 on Wednesday. AbbVie has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week high of $218.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $191.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $187.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $321.10 billion, a PE ratio of 75.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.31 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. The trade was a 40.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,459,385,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 25,841.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,234,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,144,382,000 after acquiring an additional 10,195,284 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,819,154,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,190,951,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,215,903,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466,971 shares during the last quarter. 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.