AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Rating Lowered by Erste Group Bank

Key Points

• AbbVie was downgraded by Erste Group Bank from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, amidst various other mixed ratings from different analysts.
• BMO Capital Markets raised its price target for AbbVie to $240.00, while Piper Sandler increased theirs to $284.00, indicating some analysts' optimism about the company's performance.
• AbbVie reported a quarterly revenue increase of 6.6% to $15.42 billion, but fell short of earnings expectations with an EPS of $2.97 against a consensus of $3.24.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Erste Group Bank from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Finviz reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on ABBV. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $231.90.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $230.36 on Tuesday. AbbVie has a 1-year low of $163.81 and a 1-year high of $244.81. The company has a market cap of $406.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.70, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.51. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.65 EPS. AbbVie's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the business'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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,178,278.64. The trade was a 19.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total transaction of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 177,298,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,910,186,000 after buying an additional 3,380,842 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 2.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,178,351 shares of the company's stock worth $7,240,169,000 after buying an additional 924,761 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.0% during the second 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 acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,288,200,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% during the 1st 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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