AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading 0.2% Higher

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price shot up 0.2% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $194.55 and last traded at $193.80. 526,974 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 5,347,063 shares. The stock had previously closed at $193.45.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. William Blair raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.64.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $342.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.46.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

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

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after buying an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110,601 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,698,847,000 after purchasing an additional 992,496 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,382,000 after purchasing an additional 134,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 12.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,984,490,000 after buying an additional 1,240,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.