UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Starts Abbvie (ABBV) at Overweight

Piper Jaffray initiated coverage on Abbvie (NYSE: ABBV) with an Overweight rating and a price target of $77.00.

Analyst Richard Purkiss commented, "we see AbbVie as a highly defensive near-term growth story with a differentiated dividend outlook. Near-term growth looks secure given Humira's momentum alongside Imbruvica and Viekira. Diversifying into higher margin franchises, Humira's pay-away declines along with the natural operating hedges associated with more slowly-eroding franchises and suggests long-run cash-flow is more secure than investors fear. Finally, AbbVie's dividend yield as well as its growth prospects are above average versus large-cap peers providing investors with significant downside protection, in our view, given the sector multiple maybe close to its cyclical peak."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Abbvie click here. For more ratings news on Abbvie click here.

Shares of Abbvie closed at $66.91 yesterday.

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