Covestor Ltd Decreases Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Covestor Ltd lowered its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 30.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 947 shares of the company’s stock after selling 420 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,159,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 9,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Doliver Advisors LP raised its stake in AbbVie by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 5,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $1,143,466.20. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451 in the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $194.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on AbbVie from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.71.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $173.80 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $200.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.60. The stock has a market cap of $307.44 billion, a PE ratio of 72.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $218.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

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 296.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.33%.

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.