AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Short Interest Update

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the target of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,130,000 shares, a growth of 12.1% from the October 15th total of 16,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,950,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABBV shares. UBS Group raised their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.89.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in AbbVie by 100.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock traded up $1.27 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $166.26. The company had a trading volume of 8,336,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,482,502. The company has a market capitalization of $293.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie has a 12-month low of $137.14 and a 12-month high of $207.32. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $191.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

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.