AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 0.8%

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price dropped 0.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $165.57 and last traded at $166.44. Approximately 1,227,248 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 5,539,868 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.80.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several analyst reports. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $282.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $174.59 and its 200 day moving average is $160.74. 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 announced its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.11. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 227.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total transaction of $2,509,001.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,802,413.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,961,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,450,089 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,542,463 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in AbbVie by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,175,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,796,085,000 after purchasing an additional 914,485 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $3,774,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,702,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in AbbVie by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,936,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,269,822,000 after purchasing an additional 491,391 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.