AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Up 0.1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shot up 0.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $174.15 and last traded at $173.30. 647,270 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 5,512,602 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup cut their target price on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Five 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.65.

AbbVie Stock 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 firm has a market capitalization of $307.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.17, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $185.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.68.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly 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 business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,382,000 after purchasing an additional 134,239 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,732,000 after purchasing an additional 511,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 6.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,842,642,000 after acquiring an additional 373,802 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.