Insider Selling: AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Chairman Sells $49,497,875.00 in Stock

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $172.32 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $304.29 billion, a PE ratio of 51.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.64. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $166.21 and a 200-day moving average of $169.08. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.85 and a 52-week high of $182.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 179.47% and a net margin of 11.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.76 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. American National Bank increased its holdings in AbbVie by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. American National Bank now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,204,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares in the last quarter. AXS Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 9,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,477,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 17,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 30,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,791,000 after acquiring an additional 7,737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opinicus Capital Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,296,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABBV. HSBC upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.31.

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.