AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 1.4%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price was down 1.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $158.12 and last traded at $159.49. Approximately 1,341,626 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 5,602,795 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.72.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James increased 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. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. William Blair upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.31.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $290.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $173.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $12.31 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.29 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,895,641.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total value of $10,539,491.71. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,855,698.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,961,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450,089 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake 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 valued at $6,971,796,000 after buying an additional 2,542,463 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in AbbVie by 2.9% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,175,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,796,085,000 after buying an additional 914,485 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,451,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,774,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,702,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in AbbVie by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,936,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,269,822,000 after acquiring an additional 491,391 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.