AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 0.8% – Time to Sell?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares were down 0.8% on Monday . The company traded as low as $201.59 and last traded at $201.82. Approximately 667,877 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 5,307,515 shares. The stock had previously closed at $203.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.00.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $194.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $179.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $355.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS 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 dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after buying an additional 4,471,806 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 249.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,357,000 after buying an additional 3,120,310 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,758,789,000 after buying an additional 3,110,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 156.0% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $632,619,000 after buying an additional 2,116,997 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.