AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Up 0.7% – Should You Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price shot up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $183.46 and last traded at $183.00. 883,442 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 5,516,177 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $321.76 billion, a PE ratio of 63.54, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $187.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.14.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued 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. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given 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 is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. 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.