AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Up 0.5%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price rose 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $163.74 and last traded at $162.54. Approximately 4,881,516 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 5,260,014 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.67.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. William Blair upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim increased their target price on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a fifty day moving average of $176.01 and a 200-day moving average of $159.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $287.80 billion, a PE ratio of 59.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total value of $10,539,491.71. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at $10,895,641.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Able Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. IFS Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors 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.