AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 388,002 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,913 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $68,948,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 68,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,223,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,146,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,742,000 after acquiring an additional 54,501 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $127,000. Apexium Financial LP lifted its stake in AbbVie by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 3,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $705,000 after purchasing an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,343,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. 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. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Up 3.9 %

NYSE ABBV opened at $176.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $312.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.42, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The business 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 company’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

About AbbVie

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.