Lazari Capital Management Inc. Sells 159 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Lazari Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,408 shares of the company’s stock after selling 159 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for approximately 1.5% of Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FCG Investment Co purchased a new position in AbbVie during the first quarter valued at $1,413,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 65.6% during the 1st quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 97,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,726,000 after acquiring an additional 38,562 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank raised its stake in AbbVie by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,657 shares during the period. Finally, PGGM Investments boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 308.1% in the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,624,000 after purchasing an additional 24,756 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $188.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $333.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.02, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.85 and a 1-year high of $199.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $194.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.91 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ABBV. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.47.

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.