Investors Buy Large Volume of AbbVie Call Options (NYSE:ABBV)

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 31,423 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 19% compared to the typical daily volume of 26,489 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $214.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at $11,183,398.72. The trade was a 52.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,110 shares of the company's stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC now owns 1,360 shares of the company's stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,150 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,159,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connecticut Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,711 shares of the company's stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV traded up $5.59 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $185.96. 10,480,961 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,045,510. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $196.85 and a 200 day moving average of $187.13. AbbVie has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $218.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $328.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AbbVie will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 279.15%.

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.