AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,790,000 shares, a decrease of 8.7% from the August 31st total of 19,490,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 5,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, HSBC raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 sale, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Frisch Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 1.3% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 4,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Partners LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 1.4% in the second quarter. Hilltop Partners LLC now owns 3,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $662,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC now owns 1,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $964,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.3 %

ABBV stock traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $196.96. 3,774,974 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,361,466. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $192.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $347.81 billion, a PE ratio of 58.88, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. AbbVie has a one year low of $135.85 and a one year high of $199.95.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that AbbVie will post 10.86 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

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.