VELA Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

VELA Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,054 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,043 shares during the quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 61.2% during the third quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 216 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $203.55. 4,493,880 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,329,237. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $179.38. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.85 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The company has a market cap of $359.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.68, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.9 EPS 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 paid a $1.64 dividend. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on 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 owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.