Sheets Smith Wealth Management Reduces Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management cut its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,749 shares of the company’s stock after selling 502 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABBV. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.31.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. 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. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded up $2.98 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $163.79. 5,850,102 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,457,836. 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 company has a market cap of $290.01 billion, a PE ratio of 48.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $173.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $161.39. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.96 and a twelve month high of $182.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 165.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

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.