AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 2.1% – Here’s What Happened

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) fell 2.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $177.15 and last traded at $177.77. 939,706 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 5,510,227 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Leerink Partnrs raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $187.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $182.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a market cap of $311.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,349,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 130,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,431,000 after acquiring an additional 3,813 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 59,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,145,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 54,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,293,000 after acquiring an additional 1,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ellenbecker Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 6,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,040,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.