AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 1.9% – What’s Next?

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) was down 1.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $221.17 and last traded at $223.0040. Approximately 4,841,176 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 6,845,706 shares. The stock had previously closed at $227.23.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $270.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $234.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.43.

AbbVie Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $394.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $209.85 and its 200 day moving average is $219.26.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.72 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AbbVie

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AbbVie by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 180,779,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,306,353,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032,438 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in AbbVie by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,940,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,494,193,000 after buying an additional 1,119,274 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,629,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,179,099,000 after buying an additional 4,190,487 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in AbbVie by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,824,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,900,617,000 after buying an additional 356,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,865,055,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.