AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Up 1.6% – Should You Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price traded up 1.6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $184.00 and last traded at $184.00. 1,001,152 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 5,535,857 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.4 %

The company has a market cap of $324.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company’s 50-day moving average is $188.85 and its 200 day moving average is $181.58.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at about $646,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Montchanin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth approximately $875,000. Finally, National Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 199.1% during the first quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 5,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 3,511 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.