AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 5.6% – Time to Sell?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price fell 5.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $169.07 and last traded at $169.71. 3,130,375 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 5,876,295 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ABBV. Guggenheim lifted their price target 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 raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $194.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.71.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $309.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The business’s 50-day moving average is $200.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.49.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share 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 last year, the firm earned $2.79 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Piscataqua Savings Bank raised its position in AbbVie by 1.5% in the first quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 11,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,510,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.4% in the first quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 1,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $385,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 37,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,876,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. Joule Financial LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 35.5% during the 1st quarter. Joule Financial LLC now owns 2,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,000 after acquiring an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 385,966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,868,000 after acquiring an additional 15,915 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.