Short Interest in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Increases By 11.3%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 20,170,000 shares, a growth of 11.3% from the October 31st total of 18,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen lifted their target price 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. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. State Street Corp boosted its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,382,000 after buying an additional 134,239 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,732,000 after purchasing an additional 511,470 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,009,542,000 after purchasing an additional 582,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in AbbVie by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,842,642,000 after buying an additional 373,802 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $181.50. 4,106,025 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,530,602. The company has a market cap of $320.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 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 twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $187.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $182.14.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Equities analysts expect that AbbVie will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 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.