Aureus Asset Management LLC Sells 240 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Aureus Asset Management LLC reduced its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,903 shares of the company’s stock after selling 240 shares during the period. Aureus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.1 %

AbbVie stock opened at $182.93 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $138.01 and a 52 week high of $207.32. The company has a market capitalization of $323.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $188.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.02.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

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.