AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Holdings Lowered by Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.

Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,275 shares of the company’s stock after selling 98 shares during the quarter. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter worth approximately $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% during 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 period. 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 valued at $9,448,000 after purchasing an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 10,768 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on ABBV. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV opened at $176.90 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $312.60 billion, a PE ratio of 61.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $175.84 and a 200-day moving average of $184.89. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. 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%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

AbbVie Company 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.