Citigroup Boosts AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Price Target to $205.00

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at Citigroup to $205.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s price target suggests a potential upside of 6.62% from the stock’s previous close.

ABBV has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $194.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.29.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $192.27 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $183.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $339.63 billion, a PE ratio of 80.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. AbbVie has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,183,398.72. The trade was a 52.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Crestline Management LP boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 438.4% in the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 35,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,275,000 after acquiring an additional 28,753 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,367,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,664,489,000 after buying an additional 108,993 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in AbbVie by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. AXA S.A. raised its position in AbbVie by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 971,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,705,000 after purchasing an additional 125,568 shares during the period. Finally, Keystone Financial Group raised its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 17,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,190,000 after purchasing an additional 161 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.