AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by Sheets Smith Wealth Management

Sheets Smith Wealth Management lessened its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,946 shares of the company’s stock after selling 217 shares during the quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 9.2% during the second quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $641,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the period. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 33.0% during the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 589 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. NBW Capital LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 1,167.8% in the 2nd quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 38,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,635,000 after buying an additional 35,631 shares in the last quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 44.9% in the 2nd quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 17,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,010,000 after buying an additional 5,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% during the second quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 114,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,594,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Argus upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 2.0 %

AbbVie stock opened at $169.19 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $298.98 billion, a PE ratio of 58.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.84.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.88%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

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.