AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Up 0.5% – What’s Next?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price rose 0.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $198.11 and last traded at $197.33. Approximately 981,030 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 5,734,237 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.25.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Daiwa America lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $180.68 and a 200 day moving average of $186.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $356.64 billion, a PE ratio of 84.18, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.79 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 273.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp raised its holdings in AbbVie by 486.1% during the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,448,000 after acquiring an additional 15,550 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after acquiring an additional 3,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 23.5% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,169,000 after acquiring an additional 10,768 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is 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.