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

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price 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 were traded 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.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.31.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 13,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.51, for a total value of $2,441,295.03. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,173 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,000,989.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were 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 owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 in the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $3,229,888,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in AbbVie by 29,922.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,032,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $899,186,000 after purchasing an additional 6,012,281 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $499,955,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in AbbVie by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 44,988,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,971,796,000 after purchasing an additional 2,542,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,451,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,774,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,702,415 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $286.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.00.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

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.