AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 0.2%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares were up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $174.56 and last traded at $173.43. Approximately 625,656 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 5,496,722 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABBV. HSBC raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Barclays dropped their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.31.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $311.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $166.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.05. AbbVie had a return on equity of 179.47% and a net margin of 11.02%. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. American National Bank boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,204,000 after acquiring an additional 2,695 shares during the period. AXS Investments LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 9,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 17,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,641,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 30,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,791,000 after purchasing an additional 7,737 shares during the period. Finally, Opinicus Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,296,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.