AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 1.4%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price rose 1.4% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $168.95 and last traded at $168.74. Approximately 1,005,632 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 5,574,263 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James raised their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. William Blair raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $300.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.57.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.60 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total value of $10,539,491.71. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at $10,895,641.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,233,546.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 in the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 23,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,480,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 2,446 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 26,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,936,000 after purchasing an additional 4,633 shares during the last quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 5.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 118,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,709,000 after purchasing an additional 6,139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.