AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading 0.2% Higher – Should You Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price was up 0.2% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $211.02 and last traded at $210.39. Approximately 1,454,842 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 5,229,308 shares. The stock had previously closed at $210.01.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.0 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $366.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $194.49 and a 200 day moving average of $188.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its 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 net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS 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 dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,754,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,424,237 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,586,948,000 after acquiring an additional 983,888 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in AbbVie by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,038,898,000 after purchasing an additional 778,126 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599,336 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.