AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by LVW Advisors LLC

LVW Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,023 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,229 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,913,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. State Street Corp grew its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,382,000 after buying an additional 134,239 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,732,000 after buying an additional 511,470 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 6.1% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after acquiring an additional 373,802 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABBV. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays raised their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Five 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of ABBV opened at $171.49 on Monday. The stock has a market cap 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. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $175.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.