Davis Capital Management Trims Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Davis Capital Management lessened its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,491 shares of the company’s stock after selling 119 shares during the quarter. Davis Capital Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $976,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ABBV. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 100.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Daiwa America lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, 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 on the stock. Five 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Down 2.0 %

ABBV opened at $169.19 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The firm has a market cap of $298.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.75, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week high of $207.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.84.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.78%.

About AbbVie

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.