AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Down 0.7% – Time to Sell?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was down 0.7% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $210.07 and last traded at $210.51. Approximately 2,074,687 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 5,189,367 shares. The stock had previously closed at $211.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ABBV shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim increased their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $370.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average of $194.49 and a 200 day moving average of $188.67.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS 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 company posted $2.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. The trade was a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 38,974 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. EnRich Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 196.4% in the 4th quarter. EnRich Financial Partners LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.