AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 1.4%

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) were down 1.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $161.00 and last traded at $161.47. Approximately 1,761,892 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 5,615,306 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.79.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ABBV. Guggenheim boosted their target price on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. William Blair upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.31.

AbbVie Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $288.14 billion, a PE ratio of 47.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 165.18%. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 183.98%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,961,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450,089 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 44,988,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,971,796,000 after purchasing an additional 2,542,463 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,175,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,796,085,000 after purchasing an additional 914,485 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,451,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,774,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,702,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,936,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,269,822,000 after purchasing an additional 491,391 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.