Fortis Advisors LLC Sells 257 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Fortis Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 18.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,149 shares of the company’s stock after selling 257 shares during the quarter. Fortis Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in AbbVie by 40.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $175.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $310.06 billion, a PE ratio of 60.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $177.47 and a 200-day moving average of $184.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s 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. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Daiwa America cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup cut their price target on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

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.