AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 0.8% – Time to Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) traded up 0.8% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $178.13 and last traded at $177.57. 765,093 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 5,508,982 shares. The stock had previously closed at $176.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.19.

AbbVie Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $310.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 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 firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share 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 $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.