Jefferies Group Analysts Give AbbVie (ABBV) a $122.00 Price Target

Jefferies Group set a $122.00 price target on AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) in a report issued on Friday. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock. Jefferies Group also issued estimates for AbbVie’s FY2018 earnings at $7.52 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $8.97 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Credit Suisse Group set a $109.00 price objective on AbbVie and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, April 10th. Barclays cut their price target on AbbVie from $120.00 to $102.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a sell rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, April 5th. ValuEngine lowered AbbVie from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 28th. Finally, Bank of America set a $120.00 price target on AbbVie and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Monday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The company presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $117.85.

Shares of ABBV opened at $92.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.07, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $145,823.56, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.61. AbbVie has a 12 month low of $63.12 and a 12 month high of $125.86.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.04. AbbVie had a return on equity of 158.15% and a net margin of 18.82%. The company had revenue of $7.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. equities research analysts predict that AbbVie will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 12th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.57%.

AbbVie announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 15th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

In related news, VP Robert A. Michael sold 992 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.31, for a total transaction of $119,347.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Carlos Alban sold 83,574 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.49, for a total value of $9,568,387.26. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 133,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,230,146.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 211,197 shares of company stock valued at $24,585,575 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 24.5% during the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. now owns 740,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,686,000 after purchasing an additional 145,691 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Management Group Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 11.5% during the second quarter. Spectrum Management Group Inc. now owns 28,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,038,000 after purchasing an additional 2,892 shares in the last quarter. AGF Investments America Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 3.6% during the second quarter. AGF Investments America Inc. now owns 29,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017 shares in the last quarter. Ffcm LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 167.2% during the second quarter. Ffcm LLC now owns 1,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Trust Co. raised its position in AbbVie by 3.2% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co. now owns 321,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,345,000 after purchasing an additional 10,113 shares in the last quarter. 70.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About AbbVie

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceutical products worldwide. The company offers HUMIRA, a biologic therapy administered as a subcutaneous injection to treat autoimmune diseases; IMBRUVICA, an oral therapy for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia; and VIEKIRA PAK, an interferon-free therapy, with or without ribavirin, for the treatment of adults with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C.

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