Northern Financial Advisors Inc Sells 944 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Northern Financial Advisors Inc trimmed its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,595 shares of the company’s stock after selling 944 shares during the quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in AbbVie by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 64,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,026,000 after buying an additional 5,519 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 39.4% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 66,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,357,000 after purchasing an additional 18,902 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 80,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,446,000 after purchasing an additional 3,354 shares during the period. Finally, Fielder Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $336,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at $92,020,679.73. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock traded down $2.22 on Wednesday, hitting $160.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,839,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,616,276. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.96 and a 1 year high of $182.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $172.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.62. The company has a market capitalization of $283.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 165.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.31.

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.