AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Up 0.2% – Time to Buy?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) were up 0.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $166.17 and last traded at $165.32. Approximately 1,037,793 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 5,449,917 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on ABBV shares. Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.89.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.04.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chiron Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,123,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 62,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,194,000 after acquiring an additional 3,405 shares during the last quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,947,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 3,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $761,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashford Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ashford Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,064,000 after acquiring an additional 1,410 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is 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.