AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Down 0.2% – Time to Sell?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) fell 0.2% on Friday . The company traded as low as $169.25 and last traded at $170.41. 990,980 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 5,735,005 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.67.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup reduced their target price on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.63. The stock has a market cap of $301.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. River Street Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 10,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,923,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 3,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 130,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,264,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 110,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,642,000 after purchasing an additional 5,991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 256.0% during the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 20,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,652,000 after purchasing an additional 14,780 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.