AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Up 0.4% - Still a Buy?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) traded up 0.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $178.48 and last traded at $178.16. 3,668,907 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 6,200,884 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.44.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim increased their target price on AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $194.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $210.95.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.4%

The company has a market capitalization of $318.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.88, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a fifty day moving average of $192.59 and a 200-day moving average of $187.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. The company had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. AbbVie's revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451 over the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,459,385,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 25,841.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,234,737 shares of the company's stock worth $2,144,382,000 after purchasing an additional 10,195,284 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,819,154,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at $1,190,951,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 32.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,215,903,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466,971 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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