AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 0.6% – Time to Buy?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) rose 0.6% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $192.75 and last traded at $192.96. Approximately 798,706 shares changed hands 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.35.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50 day moving average is $177.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.43. The firm has a market cap of $342.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.79, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share 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 257.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,777,000. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 359,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,058,000 after purchasing an additional 23,320 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% in the third quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 40,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,019,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Talbot Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.5% in the third quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 92,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.