AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 0.2% – Still a Buy?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) were up 0.2% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $211.02 and last traded at $210.39. Approximately 1,454,842 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 5,229,308 shares. The stock had previously closed at $210.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Trading Down 3.8 %

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $188.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $355.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.80, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025 in the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter worth $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. EnRich Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 196.4% during the 4th quarter. EnRich Financial Partners LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.