AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 0.5%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares traded up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $163.74 and last traded at $162.54. 4,881,516 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 7% from the average session volume of 5,260,014 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.67.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Three 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.2 %

The firm has a market cap of $291.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $175.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $159.97.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 3.77%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at $92,020,679.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other AbbVie news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 23,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,480,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 13.0% during the third quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 2,446 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 21.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in AbbVie by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 118,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,709,000 after buying an additional 6,139 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.