AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading 0.1% Higher

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $197.34 and last traded at $196.28. 679,700 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 5,486,175 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.15.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.64.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.6 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $348.86 billion, a PE ratio of 58.56, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 186.82%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.87 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,792,325. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 610,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,999 shares during the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 20.7% in the second quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 13,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,235,000 after purchasing an additional 2,235 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 38.4% in the second quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 8,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,497,000 after buying an additional 2,421 shares during the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth $1,409,000. Finally, Ted Buchan & Co acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at $272,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.