AbbVie's (ABBV) "Hold (C)" Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Weiss Ratings has reiterated a "hold (C)" rating for AbbVie (ABBV) in a recent investor note, reflecting cautious sentiment about the stock's performance.
• Several analysts increased their ratings on AbbVie, with Berenberg Bank upgrading it to "buy" and raising the price target significantly from $170 to $270.
• AbbVie reported earnings of $2.97 per share in its last quarterly results, missing expectations, while revenue grew 6.6% year-over-year to $15.42 billion.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c)" rating restated by Weiss Ratings in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Berenberg Bank upgraded AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $170.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $229.14.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE ABBV traded down $1.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $231.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,069,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,489,521. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $212.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.19. AbbVie has a twelve month low of $163.81 and a twelve month high of $244.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $408.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.11, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued 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). The company had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. AbbVie's revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.65 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value 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 approximately $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 3,380,842 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 2.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in AbbVie by 6.0% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 26,783,329 shares of the company's stock worth $4,970,848,000 after buying an additional 1,517,222 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $4,288,200,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,013,920 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,612,357,000 after acquiring an additional 189,294 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.

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