AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Down 0.9%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares were down 0.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $166.74 and last traded at $168.08. Approximately 709,865 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 5,552,454 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABBV. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. William Blair raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $297.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $175.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $160.57.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.16 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.11%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,855,698.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total transaction of $3,716,756.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,855,698.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 over the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Exeter Financial LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 2.9% in the third quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 21,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,237,000 after acquiring an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 7.9% during the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 13,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,997,000 after buying an additional 979 shares during the period. Viking Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 6.0% during the third quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 142,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,204,000 after buying an additional 8,060 shares during the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 0.6% in the third quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 19,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,961,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $205,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AbbVie

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.