AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading 0.5% Higher – Time to Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was up 0.5% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $178.57 and last traded at $178.02. Approximately 1,862,537 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 5,533,817 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.06.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.7 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $189.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $318.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.81, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 560,808 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 308.1% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,624,000 after purchasing an additional 24,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,169,000 after purchasing an additional 10,768 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.