AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 0.1% – Time to Sell?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) fell 0.1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $188.52 and last traded at $189.55. 1,538,068 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 5,269,552 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays increased their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $170.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.39.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $193.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $360.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 183.98%.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 61.2% in the 3rd quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 216 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 82 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.