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

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price dropped 1.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock 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

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.89.

AbbVie Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $192.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.78. The stock has a market cap of $291.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. 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 3.98%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 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.