AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Trading Down 0.1% - What's Next?

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) dropped 0.1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $173.84 and last traded at $174.26. Approximately 740,975 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 5,515,367 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.37.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Guggenheim raised their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Argus upgraded AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.65.

AbbVie Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $306.00 billion, a PE ratio of 60.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $185.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.75.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) 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. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company 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 is a boost from AbbVie's previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% during the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company's stock valued at $133,531,000 after buying an additional 560,808 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 23.5% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,169,000 after buying an additional 10,768 shares during the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 57.5% in the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,620 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,282,000 after acquiring an additional 6,065 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,864 shares of the company's stock worth $15,377,000 after acquiring an additional 5,993 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AbbVie

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.