AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 0.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) traded down 0.5% during trading on Monday after BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on the stock from $195.00 to $180.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. AbbVie traded as low as $158.56 and last traded at $158.89. 1,489,616 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 5,602,661 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.62.

Several other research firms also recently commented on ABBV. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, William Blair upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at $92,020,679.73. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total transaction of $3,716,756.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,855,698.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at $92,020,679.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 in the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Norges Bank bought a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth about $3,229,888,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 29,922.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,032,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $899,186,000 after acquiring an additional 6,012,281 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $499,955,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in AbbVie by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 44,988,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,971,796,000 after acquiring an additional 2,542,463 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $283.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 165.18% and a net margin of 11.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.98%.

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.