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

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,000,000 shares, a decrease of 8.3% from the December 15th total of 18,530,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.3 %

ABBV traded down $2.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $171.49. 7,581,211 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,943,678. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $175.78 and a 200 day moving average of $184.75. The firm has a market cap of $303.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that AbbVie will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.