AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 2% – Time to Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price shot up 2% on Friday . The company traded as high as $175.09 and last traded at $174.94. 2,559,459 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 5,541,099 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Truist Financial upped their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.70.

AbbVie Trading Up 2.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company’s 50-day moving average is $182.94 and its 200 day moving average is $183.24. The company has a market cap of $310.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.78%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in AbbVie by 40.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.