AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Short Interest Update

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,790,000 shares, a decline of 8.7% from the August 31st total of 19,490,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 5,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, 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 transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at $89,792,325. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter valued at $37,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE ABBV traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $196.96. The company had a trading volume of 3,774,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,361,466. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $192.02 and its 200 day moving average is $176.34. The company has a market capitalization of $347.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.64. AbbVie has a fifty-two week low of $135.85 and a fifty-two week high of $199.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The firm 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%. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 10.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up previously from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, July 26th. William Blair raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays raised their target price on AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $191.64.

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.