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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays boosted their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business’s fifty day moving average is $188.85 and its 200-day moving average is $181.58. The firm has a market cap of $324.54 billion, a PE ratio of 63.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter worth about $646,000. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter worth $221,000. Montchanin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the first quarter valued at $875,000. Finally, National Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 199.1% during the first quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 5,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 3,511 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.