United Asset Strategies Inc. Sells 102 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

United Asset Strategies Inc. reduced its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,839 shares of the company’s stock after selling 102 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter worth $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 560,808 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 41.3% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,448,000 after acquiring an additional 15,550 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during 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 purchasing an additional 10,768 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on ABBV shares. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Leerink Partnrs raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $176.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $312.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.42, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.89. 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 released its 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. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 payout ratio is 227.78%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Company 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.