AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 0.7% – Should You Sell?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price traded down 0.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $210.07 and last traded at $210.51. 2,074,687 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 5,189,367 shares. The stock had previously closed at $211.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on ABBV. Piper Sandler raised their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.0 %

The company has a market capitalization of $370.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.57, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $193.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $188.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.79 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,985,223.60. The trade was a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. EnRich Financial Partners LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 196.4% during the 4th quarter. EnRich Financial Partners LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other 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.