AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Down 0.2% – Should You Sell?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price traded down 0.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $188.75 and last traded at $189.35. 706,570 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 5,271,919 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.65.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $170.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.39.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $331.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The business’s 50 day moving average is $194.02 and its 200-day moving average is $178.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.