AbbVie Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:ABBV)

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 121,889 put options on the company. This is an increase of 573% compared to the average volume of 18,105 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.89.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock traded down $4.64 on Friday, hitting $164.99. 11,265,398 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,469,640. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $192.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.78. AbbVie has a one year low of $137.05 and a one year high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.56 billion, a PE ratio of 57.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.63. 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 (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.