Wright Investors Service Inc. Cuts Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Wright Investors Service Inc. reduced its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 28.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,480 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,046 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up 2.0% of Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $6,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth about $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% in the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after purchasing an additional 560,808 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,448,000 after purchasing an additional 15,550 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after buying an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,169,000 after buying an additional 10,768 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.0 %

AbbVie stock opened at $176.94 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $312.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.