Investors Purchase High Volume of AbbVie Call Options (NYSE:ABBV)

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 38,496 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 78% compared to the typical volume of 21,600 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GGM Financials LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc raised its position in AbbVie by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,575,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Frisch Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% in the second quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Financial Corp increased its position in AbbVie by 0.9% in the third quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock traded up $2.44 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $173.79. The stock had a trading volume of 2,924,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,093,872. AbbVie has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The firm has a market cap of $307.11 billion, a PE ratio of 60.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AbbVie will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

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.