AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Up 0.1% – Should You Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares rose 0.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $171.67 and last traded at $171.22. Approximately 1,877,602 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 5,399,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.09.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, William Blair raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.83.

AbbVie Price Performance

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 fifty day moving average price is $193.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $180.84. The company has a market capitalization of $299.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.90, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at $27,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth $28,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $39,000. 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.