Sage Capital Advisors llc Boosts Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sage Capital Advisors llc boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,616 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Sage Capital Advisors llc’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% during the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 41.3% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,448,000 after acquiring an additional 15,550 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 23.5% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,169,000 after purchasing an additional 10,768 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV stock traded down $2.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $176.22. The stock had a trading volume of 2,275,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,548,750. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $179.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.34. The firm has a market cap of $311.41 billion, a PE ratio of 61.19, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week 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.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

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.