AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 0.8%

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) fell 0.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $165.57 and last traded at $166.44. 1,227,248 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 5,539,868 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.80.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ABBV. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Three research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $296.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.28, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,895,641.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other AbbVie news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 13,753 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.51, for a total value of $2,441,295.03. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,173 shares in the company, valued at $5,000,989.23. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at $10,895,641.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 over the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 23,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,480,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Torray Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 13.0% in the third quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 2,446 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 21.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 26,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,936,000 after buying an additional 4,633 shares in the last quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 5.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 118,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,709,000 after buying an additional 6,139 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.