Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Sells 93,697 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE reduced its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 49.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 97,544 shares of the company’s stock after selling 93,697 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $17,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 38,974 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. This trade represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025 over the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of ABBV opened at $209.25 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $369.40 billion, a PE ratio of 87.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s fifty day moving average is $195.14 and its 200 day moving average is $188.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.33%.

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.