AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Share Price Passes Below Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shares passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $183.76 and traded as low as $177.29. AbbVie shares last traded at $178.01, with a volume of 2,743,851 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.70.

AbbVie Price Performance

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 market capitalization of $314.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.81, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $181.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $183.76.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend yield of 3.69%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth $28,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. 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.