AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Down 1.5% – Should You Sell?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) dropped 1.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $212.50 and last traded at $213.40. Approximately 1,836,660 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 6,043,092 shares. The stock had previously closed at $216.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The stock has a market cap of $372.83 billion, a PE ratio of 88.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $189.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. The trade was a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,439 shares of company stock valued at $11,377,057. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dillon & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC now owns 1,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Physicians Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,159,000 after purchasing an additional 55 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.