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

Auxano Advisors LLC reduced its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,284 shares of the company’s stock after selling 101 shares during the quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 29,922.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,032,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $899,186,000 after purchasing an additional 6,012,281 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth approximately $499,955,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,961,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450,089 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 201.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,143,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $332,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,433,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,397,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $655,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130,638 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial upped their price target on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.31.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock traded up $1.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $162.64. 5,429,409 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,661,793. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.00. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.96 and a 12-month high of $182.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $287.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 165.18% and a net margin of 11.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.46 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,855,698.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at $9,855,698.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.