AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 0.4% – Should You Sell?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) were down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $201.43 and last traded at $203.26. Approximately 874,093 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 5,768,951 shares. The stock had previously closed at $204.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $182.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $186.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $358.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.58, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter worth $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp boosted its position in AbbVie by 486.1% in the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after buying an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,448,000 after acquiring an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,169,000 after buying an additional 10,768 shares in the last quarter. 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.