AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by Clarius Group LLC

Clarius Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,930 shares of the company’s stock after selling 321 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. raised its stake in AbbVie by 100.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial lowered their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

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

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $171.49 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $303.05 billion, a PE ratio of 59.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. 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 fifty day moving average of $175.78 and a 200-day moving average of $184.75. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

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.