AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Up 0.5% – Time to Buy?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) were up 0.5% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $198.97 and last traded at $198.43. Approximately 649,353 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 5,344,929 shares. The stock had previously closed at $197.48.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ABBV. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.64.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $345.14 billion, a PE ratio of 58.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $192.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. West Coast Financial LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. FCG Investment Co acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at $1,413,000. Safeguard Financial LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the first quarter worth $235,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% in the first quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $87,000. 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.