AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Short Interest Up 10.0% in May

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,930,000 shares, an increase of 10.0% from the April 30th total of 14,480,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 5,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at $10,895,641.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the firm’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 approximately $9,855,698.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Able Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. IFS Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, May 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 price target for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Raymond James increased their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.14.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV traded down $1.05 on Monday, hitting $160.19. The stock had a trading volume of 4,449,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,574,060. AbbVie has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $182.89. The stock has a market cap of $282.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $164.01.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 179.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that AbbVie will post 11.26 earnings per share for the current year.

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.