Sentry Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lowered its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 14.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,333 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,194 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up about 0.6% of Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Saturna Capital Corp lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 486.1% in the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,732,000 after purchasing an additional 511,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,993,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,993,000 after purchasing an additional 483,455 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on ABBV shares. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partnrs raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $204.02 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $360.17 billion, a PE ratio of 85.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.51. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given 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 3.22%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.