AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 1.7% – Should You Sell?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s share price was down 1.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $165.61 and last traded at $166.73. Approximately 3,236,599 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 5,433,626 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.63.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen upped their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Guggenheim raised their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.89.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.9 %

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 market cap of $294.00 billion, a PE ratio of 57.89, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.63. The company’s fifty day moving average is $192.62 and its 200-day moving average is $180.76.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the second quarter worth $27,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. 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.