AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) to Issue Dividend Increase – $1.64 Per Share

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of 1.64 per share on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55.

AbbVie has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 52 years. AbbVie has a payout ratio of 51.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect AbbVie to earn $12.11 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.2%.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV stock traded up $4.03 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $193.48. 1,300,332 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,271,889. The company has a market cap of $341.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.23, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie has a 52-week low of $135.85 and a 52-week high of $199.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $193.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on ABBV shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $170.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.