AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Position Reduced by JLB & Associates Inc.

JLB & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,268 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,020 shares during the period. JLB & Associates Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Forte Capital LLC ADV grew its stake in AbbVie by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 16,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,906,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 78.7% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 598,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,324,000 after buying an additional 263,557 shares during the last quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc now owns 10,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,948,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 5,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $927,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Financial Mangement LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 32,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,864,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $200.98 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $180.12 and a 200-day moving average of $186.19. 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 stock has a market cap of $354.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.74, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 257.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.79 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on ABBV. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.35.

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.