AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading 0.9% Higher – What’s Next?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) rose 0.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $173.95 and last traded at $173.28. Approximately 1,859,661 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 5,965,008 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.68.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Erste Group Bank raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $214.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued a “hold” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.71.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $307.99 billion, a PE ratio of 72.50, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $188.16.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. The trade was a 52.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,754,908,000 after buying an additional 1,424,237 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,586,948,000 after acquiring an additional 983,888 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in AbbVie by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,038,898,000 after purchasing an additional 778,126 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,459,385,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.