AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Short Interest Up 11.3% in November

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 20,170,000 shares, an increase of 11.3% from the October 31st total of 18,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,740,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.50.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the second quarter worth $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the second quarter worth $27,000. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV traded down $1.11 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $181.82. 2,362,695 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,529,595. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a market cap of $321.30 billion, a PE ratio of 62.72, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $188.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.02. AbbVie has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

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.