AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Up 0.2% After Dividend Announcement

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price shot up 0.2% during trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $194.74 and last traded at $193.19. 623,047 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 5,404,892 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.86.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on ABBV shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $191.64.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $341.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $183.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.60.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.91 EPS. Equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. American National Bank lifted its position in AbbVie by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,204,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares in the last quarter. AXS Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 9,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 33.4% during the 4th 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. West Coast Financial LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FCG Investment Co purchased a new position in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $1,413,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.