AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 0.6% – Still a Buy?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) traded up 0.6% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $202.16 and last traded at $202.14. 1,003,202 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 5,691,604 shares. The stock had previously closed at $200.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $181.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $186.42. The stock has a market cap of $356.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at approximately $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% during the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,448,000 after acquiring an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 23.5% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,169,000 after purchasing an additional 10,768 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently 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.