Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Decreases Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. decreased its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,425 shares of the company’s stock after selling 93 shares during the quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth $513,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. grew its stake in AbbVie by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 2,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in AbbVie by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 388,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,823,000 after purchasing an additional 86,638 shares in the last quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC IL grew its stake in AbbVie by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC IL now owns 127,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,028,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total value of $10,539,491.71. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total value of $10,539,491.71. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV stock traded up $1.65 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $169.54. The company had a trading volume of 4,084,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,615,517. The firm has a market cap of $300.20 billion, a PE ratio of 62.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.96 and a 1-year high of $182.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $175.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $160.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. Raymond James lifted their price target on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. William Blair raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.43.

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.