AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $262.10 and last traded at $261.18, with a volume of 319617 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $259.36.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on AbbVie from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $298.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.10.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average is $234.57 and its 200-day moving average is $222.88. The company has a market capitalization of $460.42 billion, a PE ratio of 128.37, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.30.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The firm had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.18 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a $1.73 dividend. This represents a $6.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 340.89%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 22,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,072,000 after purchasing an additional 3,401 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 72.7% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,064 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 5.0% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 16,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,056,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.6% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 120,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 117.3% during the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,135,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,685,000 after buying an additional 612,702 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.