AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Price Down 0.5% on Insider Selling

Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) were down 0.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $170.34 and last traded at $172.20. Approximately 1,179,325 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 5,533,190 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.02.

Specifically, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.70.

AbbVie Stock Performance

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 business has a fifty day moving average of $183.39 and a 200 day moving average of $183.32. The company has a market cap of $304.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Goldstein Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 5,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $881,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 67,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458 shares during the period. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP increased its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% during the second quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP now owns 7,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,354,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Diversified LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 7,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,208,000 after acquiring an additional 782 shares during the period. Finally, Catalina Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 33.1% in the 2nd quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 9,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,580,000 after buying an additional 2,292 shares in the last quarter. 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.