AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Down 0.5% After Insider Selling

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) dropped 0.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $170.34 and last traded at $172.20. Approximately 1,179,325 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 5,533,190 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.02.

Specifically, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday. William Blair raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Daiwa America downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.70.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.9 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $182.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $183.24. The firm has a market cap of $303.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after acquiring an additional 4,471,806 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in AbbVie by 59.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,088,000 after buying an additional 781,858 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in AbbVie by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,841,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,516,358,000 after buying an additional 623,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.