AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Holdings Lowered by Fortis Advisors LLC

Fortis Advisors LLC lowered its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,149 shares of the company’s stock after selling 257 shares during the quarter. Fortis Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at $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 purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.7 %

ABBV stock opened at $175.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $310.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $177.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32. 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 (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently 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.