AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Down 0.9%

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABBV. Raymond James upped 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. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial increased their target price 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $296.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.27, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $174.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $160.67.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the company earned $3.60 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 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 issued a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.11%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. 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 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Able Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. IFS Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. 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.