AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Up 0.5% – Here’s What Happened

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price shot up 0.5% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $203.12 and last traded at $202.26. 1,758,089 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 5,252,809 shares. The stock had previously closed at $201.34.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $195.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $188.78. The company has a market cap of $355.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94.

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

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% during 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,586,948,000 after acquiring an additional 983,888 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in AbbVie by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,038,898,000 after purchasing an additional 778,126 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,875,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599,336 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.