Ellenbecker Investment Group Sells 730 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ellenbecker Investment Group reduced its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 13.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,656 shares of the company’s stock after selling 730 shares during the quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after acquiring an additional 4,471,806 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,088,000 after purchasing an additional 781,858 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in AbbVie by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,841,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,516,358,000 after purchasing an additional 623,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 6.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after buying an additional 582,953 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ABBV. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $176.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $178.00 and a 200-day moving average of $184.61. The company has a market cap of $312.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

AbbVie 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.