AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 0.5% – Should You Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares traded up 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $203.12 and last traded at $202.26. 1,758,089 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 5,252,809 shares. The stock had previously closed at $201.34.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. Citigroup raised their target price on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa America cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Erste Group Bank raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.0 %

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 business’s 50-day moving average is $195.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.78. The firm has a market cap of $355.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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. As a group, analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.33%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. EnRich Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 196.4% during the 4th quarter. EnRich Financial Partners LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors 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.