Kevin K. Buckbee Sells 1,800 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Stock

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $173.02 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $151.29 and a one year high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $183.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.32. The firm has a market cap of $305.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ABBV. Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Daiwa America lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.70.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth about $321,000. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL boosted its stake in AbbVie by 3.0% in the third quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 30,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,047,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 3,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $664,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth approximately $489,000. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth approximately $4,768,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.