AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 0.6% – Here’s What Happened

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares dropped 0.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $199.46 and last traded at $199.91. Approximately 627,343 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 5,306,925 shares. The stock had previously closed at $201.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ABBV. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.72.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $353.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.41, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $194.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.25.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 226.99% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.