Short Interest in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Declines By 10.7%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,120,000 shares, a decrease of 10.7% from the March 15th total of 14,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,660,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Able Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. IFS Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV opened at $162.28 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $176.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.75. AbbVie has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $182.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $287.34 billion, a PE ratio of 59.44, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie will post 11.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ABBV. Raymond James lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Barclays increased their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, HSBC downgraded AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $167.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

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.