AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Short Interest Up 8.9% in October

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,180,000 shares, a growth of 8.9% from the September 30th total of 14,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,770,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days. Approximately 0.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV traded up $2.37 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $203.87. The stock had a trading volume of 8,605,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,333,263. The business’s 50 day moving average is $194.00 and its 200-day moving average is $179.09. The company has a market cap of $360.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.79, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie has a 52 week low of $135.85 and a 52 week high of $207.32. 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 (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that AbbVie will post 10.85 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’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 in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AbbVie by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,698,000 after acquiring an additional 4,471,806 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in AbbVie by 249.1% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,357,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120,310 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in AbbVie by 6.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in AbbVie by 156.0% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $632,619,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,997 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.