AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 2.1% – Time to Sell?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares traded down 2.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $177.15 and last traded at $177.77. 939,706 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 5,510,227 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.50.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $311.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $187.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.25.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter worth $1,349,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.0% during the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 130,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,431,000 after acquiring an additional 3,813 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 59,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,145,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.7% during the second quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 54,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,293,000 after acquiring an additional 1,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ellenbecker Investment Group raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.4% during the second quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 6,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,040,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.