AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Up 1.1%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) rose 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $163.67 and last traded at $163.49. Approximately 1,331,324 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 5,614,362 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.67.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. HSBC lowered AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $167.00 to $156.00 in a report on Monday, December 18th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim raised their target price on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.2 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $176.23 and its 200 day moving average is $159.81. The company has a market capitalization of $289.63 billion, a PE ratio of 59.91, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total transaction of $3,716,756.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at $9,855,698.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 89,097.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,203,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,719,514,000 after purchasing an additional 29,170,366 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth $3,229,888,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in AbbVie by 29,922.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,032,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $899,186,000 after buying an additional 6,012,281 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in AbbVie by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 31,571,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,102,311,000 after buying an additional 4,785,277 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in AbbVie by 426.5% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,652,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $754,155,000 after acquiring an additional 3,768,579 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.