AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 0.9% – Time to Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price shot up 0.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $214.58 and last traded at $213.72. 1,023,564 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 5,219,197 shares. The stock had previously closed at $211.77.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $192.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $188.31. The firm has a market cap of $377.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,459,385,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,190,951,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,215,903,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466,971 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,246,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,064,773,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,156 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Company Profile

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.