AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 1.2% – Here’s What Happened

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price was up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $224.02 and last traded at $223.0150. Approximately 6,552,851 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 10% from the average daily volume of 7,262,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $220.43.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Berenberg Bank set a $275.00 price target on AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $227.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $258.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $249.37.

AbbVie Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $224.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $218.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $394.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 168.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.36.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.09. AbbVie had a net margin of 4.00% and a return on equity of 3,216.47%. The business had revenue of $15.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

About AbbVie

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.