AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 0.7%

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) fell 0.7% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $191.76 and last traded at $192.24. 893,870 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 5,346,963 shares. The stock had previously closed at $193.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ABBV. William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. HSBC upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.64.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $337.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.04, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $190.36 and a 200 day moving average of $175.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.91 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at $89,792,325. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the second quarter worth $27,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth $37,000. 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.