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

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price fell 2.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $204.53 and last traded at $204.88. 1,360,577 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 5,250,727 shares. The stock had previously closed at $209.17.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on ABBV. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Guggenheim upped their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Erste Group Bank upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $196.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.87. The company has a market cap of $357.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 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 (DPR) is presently 273.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025. Company 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 the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,754,908,000 after buying an additional 1,424,237 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,586,948,000 after acquiring an additional 983,888 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in AbbVie by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,038,898,000 after purchasing an additional 778,126 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599,336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.