Mechanics Bank Trust Department Sells 93 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department cut its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,354 shares of the company’s stock after selling 93 shares during the quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after acquiring an additional 134,239 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 3.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,732,000 after purchasing an additional 511,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after buying an additional 582,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after buying an additional 373,802 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 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 directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $171.49 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $175.78 and its 200 day moving average is $184.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The stock has a market cap of $303.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share 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 issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Five investment 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.