AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by Virtue Capital Management LLC

Virtue Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,756 shares of the company’s stock after selling 315 shares during the quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $939,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.5 %

AbbVie stock opened at $175.76 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.16 and a 52 week high of $207.32. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $310.59 billion, a PE ratio of 61.03, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $186.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $182.67.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays upped their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.19.

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.