AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 1.1% – Time to Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price shot up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $169.61 and last traded at $169.55. 1,068,856 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 5,468,993 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.76.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of several analyst reports. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.37.

AbbVie Trading Up 2.5 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $190.25 and its 200-day moving average is $181.01. The firm has a market cap of $303.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 100.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is 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.