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

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 39,690 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 39% compared to the typical daily volume of 28,569 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on ABBV shares. Raymond James increased their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim increased their target price on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, William Blair raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $162.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. AbbVie has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $182.89. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $176.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $159.70. The firm has a market cap of $287.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie will post 11.11 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Retirement Income Solutions Inc acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $204,000. Ergoteles LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 5,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,150,000. Wsfs Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $562,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 80.4% during the 1st quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 75,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,242,000 after acquiring an additional 33,661 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.