AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Down 2.1% – Here’s What Happened

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares fell 2.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $204.53 and last traded at $204.88. 1,360,577 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 5,250,727 shares. The stock had previously closed at $209.17.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ABBV shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $352.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $195.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $188.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share 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 previous year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. This trade represents a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. M1 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth $229,000. DSG Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,213,000. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $981,000. Thoma Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $551,000. Finally, Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth approximately $104,347,000. 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.