AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 1.2% – Should You Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price shot up 1.2% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $213.51 and last traded at $210.9540. 4,692,956 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 34% from the average session volume of 7,071,493 shares. The stock had previously closed at $208.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ABBV. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Evercore decreased their target price on AbbVie from $232.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on AbbVie from $262.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on AbbVie from $270.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on AbbVie from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.10.

AbbVie Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $211.23 and a 200-day moving average of $220.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $372.71 billion, a PE ratio of 103.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.06. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 576.45% and a net margin of 5.79%.The business had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.73 per share. This represents a $6.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 340.89%.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.56, for a total transaction of $1,221,518.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,654 shares in the company, valued at $619,868.24. This trade represents a 66.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $5,147,630.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 38,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,771,510. This trade represents a 36.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Chelsea Counsel Co. bought a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Imprint Wealth LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $31,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About AbbVie

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.