AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Up 0.2%

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) were up 0.2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $165.92 and last traded at $164.97. Approximately 1,168,753 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 5,575,716 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.66.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on ABBV shares. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 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 given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $294.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm 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 company earned $3.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total transaction of $3,716,756.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,855,698.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total transaction of $3,716,756.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at $9,855,698.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,961,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450,089 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in AbbVie by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 44,988,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,971,796,000 after buying an additional 2,542,463 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in AbbVie by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,175,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,796,085,000 after buying an additional 914,485 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 89,097.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,203,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,719,514,000 after buying an additional 29,170,366 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,451,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,774,569,000 after buying an additional 1,702,415 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently 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.