AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Short Interest Update

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,120,000 shares, a decline of 10.7% from the March 15th total of 14,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,660,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.5 %

ABBV stock opened at $162.54 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. AbbVie has a 1 year low of $130.96 and a 1 year high of $182.89. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.91. The firm has a market cap of $287.80 billion, a PE ratio of 59.54, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total transaction of $3,716,756.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,855,698.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of AbbVie 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 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 90 days, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Retirement Income Solutions Inc bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $204,000. Ergoteles LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 17.8% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 5,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $909,000 after buying an additional 847 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $1,150,000. Wsfs Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $562,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 80.4% in the first quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 75,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,242,000 after buying an additional 33,661 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is 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.