Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Lowers Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lessened its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 215,029 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,113 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $38,211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in AbbVie by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,439 shares of company stock valued at $11,377,057 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABBV. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $213.71 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The firm has a market cap of $377.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.73. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.79 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

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.