Sterling Financial Planning Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sterling Financial Planning Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,192 shares of the company’s stock after selling 183 shares during the quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Income Solutions Inc purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter worth approximately $204,000. Ergoteles LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 17.8% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 5,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $909,000 after buying an additional 847 shares in the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,150,000. Wsfs Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at approximately $562,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its position in AbbVie by 80.4% in the first quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 75,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,242,000 after purchasing an additional 33,661 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. William Blair upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Barclays upped their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 over the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock traded up $0.68 during trading on Friday, hitting $165.34. 1,278,289 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,578,899. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.96 and a 1 year high of $182.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $292.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.43, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $159.97.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The company had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.18 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.11%.

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.