AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Short Interest Down 10.7% in March

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

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was 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 $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,855,698.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 in the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the third quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 23,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,480,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,159,000 after purchasing an additional 2,446 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 26,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,936,000 after purchasing an additional 4,633 shares in the last quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 5.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 118,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,709,000 after buying an additional 6,139 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV opened at $162.54 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $159.91. The company has a market capitalization of $287.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.54, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie has a 12-month low of $130.96 and a 12-month high of $182.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 11.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 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 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ABBV. Barclays lifted their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

AbbVie Company Profile

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.