AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading 0.2% Higher – Here’s Why

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shot up 0.2% on Monday . The company traded as high as $211.02 and last traded at $210.39. 1,454,842 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 5,229,308 shares. The stock had previously closed at $210.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ABBV. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average is $194.49 and its 200-day moving average is $188.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $366.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.56, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

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

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of AbbVie 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. The trade was a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. M1 Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at $229,000. DSG Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $3,213,000. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $981,000. Thoma Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $551,000. Finally, Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth about $104,347,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.