AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Down 2.1% – Here’s Why

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s stock price was down 2.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $215.37 and last traded at $216.63. Approximately 9,562,205 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 42% from the average daily volume of 6,747,656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $221.23.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Evercore set a $235.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $249.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, May 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $262.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Three 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $253.43.

AbbVie Trading Down 2.1%

The company has a market cap of $382.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $211.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $218.85.

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

Institutional Trading of AbbVie

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 25.5% during the third quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 401,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,024,000 after purchasing an additional 81,625 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 55,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,885,000 after purchasing an additional 5,302 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 32,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,484,000 after buying an additional 5,427 shares during the period. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 358.1% during the third quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. now owns 14,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,414,000 after buying an additional 11,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 466,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,543,000 after buying an additional 15,458 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About AbbVie

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.