Balentine LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Balentine LLC lowered its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 49.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,520 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,322 shares during the quarter. Balentine LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in AbbVie by 100.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $190.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $177.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $185.75. The company has a market capitalization of $336.30 billion, a PE ratio of 79.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 257.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.