Insider Selling: AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) EVP Sells 42,370 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• AbbVie Inc.'s EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of stock, reducing their ownership by 19.29%, with the transaction valued at approximately $8.41 million.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $2.97, missing expectations, but had revenue of $15.42 billion, surpassing estimates by $490 million.
• AbbVie announced a quarterly dividend of $1.64 per share, representing an annual dividend yield of 3.2%, with a significant dividend payout ratio of 312.38%.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value of $8,407,055.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of ABBV traded up $3.31 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $204.78. The stock had a trading volume of 4,633,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,725,126. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.81 and a 52 week high of $218.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $190.39 and a 200 day moving average of $191.67. The company has a market cap of $361.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.50.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.24 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 312.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $214.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $227.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $214.95.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. TD Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 82.9% in the 1st quarter. TD Capital Management LLC now owns 128 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 197.6% during the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 179,440 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 119,141 shares in the last quarter. 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.

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