AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Plans $1.55 Quarterly Dividend

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 6th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of 1.55 per share on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%.

AbbVie has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 52 consecutive years. AbbVie has a dividend payout ratio of 51.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect AbbVie to earn $12.14 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.1%.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $193.14. 628,838 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,405,910. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $183.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.50. AbbVie has a 12-month low of $135.85 and a 12-month high of $199.95. The stock has a market cap of $341.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie will post 10.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $49,497,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.25% 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.