AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Rating Lowered to Hold at Hsbc Global Res

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) was downgraded by research analysts at Hsbc Global Res from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on ABBV. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. HSBC downgraded shares of AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on AbbVie from $215.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.52.

AbbVie Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $236.98 on Wednesday. AbbVie has a fifty-two week low of $163.81 and a fifty-two week high of $244.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $209.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $195.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $418.63 billion, a PE ratio of 112.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%.The business had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that AbbVie will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total value of $2,639,190.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 177,298,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,910,186,000 after buying an additional 3,380,842 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,178,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,240,169,000 after acquiring an additional 924,761 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 26,783,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,970,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,517,222 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in AbbVie during the second quarter worth $4,288,200,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,013,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,612,357,000 after purchasing an additional 189,294 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.