AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Up 0.5% – Should You Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price shot up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $178.57 and last traded at $178.02. 1,862,537 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 5,533,817 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.06.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABBV. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $188.65 and a 200-day moving average of $181.59. The company has a market cap of $323.55 billion, a PE ratio of 63.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 3.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth about $221,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 220.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 608,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,758,000 after acquiring an additional 418,540 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 69.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 224,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,866,000 after acquiring an additional 92,259 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter worth about $5,900,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.