AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by Delta Financial Advisors LLC

Delta Financial Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 20.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,197 shares of the company’s stock after selling 550 shares during the quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,961,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,450,089 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in AbbVie by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,175,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,796,085,000 after acquiring an additional 914,485 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 89,097.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,203,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,719,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,170,366 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in AbbVie by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,936,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,269,822,000 after acquiring an additional 491,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in AbbVie by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,356,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,034,276,000 after acquiring an additional 352,817 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 over the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE ABBV traded up $1.58 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $165.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,881,170 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,601,653. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $182.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $159.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $293.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.17 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.43.

AbbVie 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.