Morgan Stanley Increases AbbVie (ABBV) Price Target to $131.00

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $99.00 to $131.00 in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.05% from the stock’s previous close.

ABBV has been the subject of several other reports. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. BidaskClub lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Vetr upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $113.08 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Credit Suisse Group set a $98.00 target price on shares of AbbVie and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, SunTrust Banks reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.07.

Shares of AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) traded down $6.43 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $115.88. 11,848,643 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,230,000. AbbVie has a twelve month low of $59.27 and a twelve month high of $125.86. The company has a market capitalization of $184,720.00, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.13, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.08.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.04. AbbVie had a net margin of 18.82% and a return on equity of 152.78%. The business had revenue of $7.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 7.38 EPS for the current year.

In other AbbVie news, EVP Michael Severino sold 25,633 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.69, for a total transaction of $2,427,188.77. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,881,964.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 87,040 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.45, for a total transaction of $8,569,088.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 113,118 shares in the company, valued at $11,136,467.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 476,376 shares of company stock worth $45,580,873 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% in the second quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 178,274,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,926,708,000 after buying an additional 2,130,919 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 115,920,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,405,409,000 after buying an additional 3,706,941 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.0% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 94,074,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,821,375,000 after buying an additional 1,864,418 shares during the period. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 35.7% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 12,704,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $921,233,000 after buying an additional 3,340,038 shares during the period. Finally, Woodford Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 8.6% in the second quarter. Woodford Investment Management Ltd now owns 11,854,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,589,000 after buying an additional 937,500 shares during the period. 69.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie Inc (AbbVie) is a research-based biopharmaceutical company. The Company is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and sale of a range of pharmaceutical products. Its products are focused on treating conditions, such as chronic autoimmune diseases in rheumatology, gastroenterology and dermatology; oncology, including blood cancers; virology, including hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis; metabolic diseases, including thyroid disease and complications associated with cystic fibrosis, and other serious health conditions.

Analyst Recommendations for AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)