AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Holdings Cut by First City Capital Management Inc.

First City Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,134 shares of the company’s stock after selling 247 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for 2.5% of First City Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,644,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ABBV. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.70.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded up $1.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $181.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,690,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,855,112. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a market capitalization of $320.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.78%.

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.