Sharp Financial Services LLC Lowers Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sharp Financial Services LLC reduced its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,178 shares of the company’s stock after selling 128 shares during the quarter. Sharp Financial Services LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $209,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABBV. Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $170.42 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a market cap of $301.15 billion, a PE ratio of 59.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $175.72 and its 200 day moving average is $184.73.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on ABBV shares. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.