Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Has $28 Million Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC decreased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 157,575 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,081 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for about 1.9% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $28,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position 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 during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the period. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Daiwa America lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group lifted their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Argus upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of ABBV stock traded down $1.82 on Friday, reaching $176.68. 1,727,803 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,453,002. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $312.22 billion, a PE ratio of 61.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $179.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.34. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.