AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Up 0.5%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was up 0.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $163.74 and last traded at $162.54. Approximately 4,881,516 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 5,260,014 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.67.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ABBV. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Raymond James boosted their price target on 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 report on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $175.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.56 billion, a PE ratio of 60.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.60 EPS. Analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Income Solutions Inc bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth about $204,000. Ergoteles LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 17.8% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 5,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $909,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,150,000. Wsfs Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter valued at approximately $562,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 80.4% in the first quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 75,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,242,000 after buying an additional 33,661 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.