AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Price Target Raised to $255.00 at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised AbbVie's price target from $250.00 to $255.00, suggesting a potential upside of 31.85% from the current stock price and maintaining an "overweight" rating.
• AbbVie reported $2.97 EPS for the last quarter, missing estimates of $3.24, but saw revenues of $15.42 billion, exceeding expectations.
• The stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with 70.23% of shares owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $250.00 to $255.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective suggests a potential upside of 31.85% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $227.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. BNP Paribas raised shares of AbbVie to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $212.81.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV traded up $4.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $193.40. 1,536,053 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,829,463. AbbVie has a 1-year low of $163.81 and a 1-year high of $218.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average of $188.10 and a 200-day moving average of $190.04. The stock has a market cap of $341.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.48.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.24 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 412.03%. The firm's revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.65 EPS. Analysts expect that AbbVie will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,917,865 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,439,271,000 after purchasing an additional 845,787 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in AbbVie by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,038,898,000 after purchasing an additional 778,126 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,013,920 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,612,357,000 after purchasing an additional 189,294 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,215,903,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466,971 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in AbbVie by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,410,277 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,915,990,000 after purchasing an additional 959,242 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.