AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Up 0.9% – Here’s What Happened

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price was up 0.9% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $203.35 and last traded at $203.18. Approximately 873,374 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 5,259,850 shares. The stock had previously closed at $201.30.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa America lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $357.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.31, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $196.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $188.87.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,985,223.60. This trade represents a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in AbbVie by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. EnRich Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 196.4% during the fourth quarter. EnRich Financial Partners LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.