Short Interest in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Decreases By 16.5%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 14,860,000 shares, a drop of 16.5% from the September 15th total of 17,790,000 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,710,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.00.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded down $1.40 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $190.46. 5,235,531 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,302,489. The business’s 50 day moving average is $194.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $336.33 billion, a PE ratio of 56.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. 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 data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that AbbVie will post 10.85 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.98%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Able Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth $164,000. Northwest Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at $122,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at $196,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in AbbVie by 128.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 954,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,899,000 after buying an additional 536,730 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.