AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $248.78 and last traded at $247.6990, with a volume of 607132 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $243.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $270.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. DZ Bank raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America raised shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $234.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $249.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, March 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.81.

AbbVie Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $214.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.96. The stock has a market cap of $438.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The company had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be issued a $1.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 340.89%.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Chelsea Counsel Co. bought a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Imprint Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 56.2% in the 4th quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 125 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Company Profile

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.