AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Position Reduced by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 72.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 97,978 shares of the company’s stock after selling 255,781 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $17,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth approximately $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp lifted its position in AbbVie by 486.1% in the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after buying an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,448,000 after buying an additional 15,550 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after acquiring an additional 3,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 23.5% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,169,000 after acquiring an additional 10,768 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $170.42 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $175.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $301.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company 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 $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 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

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.