AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Up 0.6% – Still a Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares were up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $192.75 and last traded at $192.96. Approximately 798,706 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 6,197,133 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ABBV. Piper Sandler increased their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.2 %

The company has a market cap of $336.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $177.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $185.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 257.91% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Groupama Asset Managment grew 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 buying an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. 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.