Charter Research & Investment Group Inc. Sells 198 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Charter Research & Investment Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,486 shares of the company’s stock after selling 198 shares during the quarter. Charter Research & Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $975,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in AbbVie by 40.5% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 644,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,611,000 after purchasing an additional 185,820 shares during the period. American Money Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. American Money Management LLC now owns 41,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,290,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the period. Allianz SE bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,839,000. Cambridge Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at $6,806,000. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 1,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,985,223.60. The trade was a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $205.12 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66. The company has a market cap of $362.85 billion, a PE ratio of 85.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $197.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.95.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.33%.

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.