AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Down 0.5% After Analyst Downgrade

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares dropped 0.5% during trading on Monday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $195.00 to $187.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. AbbVie traded as low as $158.56 and last traded at $158.89. Approximately 1,489,616 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 5,602,661 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.62.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ABBV. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the first quarter worth $36,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth $37,000. Able Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 111.1% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 228 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.7 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $174.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $161.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $288.07 billion, a PE ratio of 48.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. AbbVie had a return on equity of 165.18% and a net margin of 11.02%. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

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.