AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by LifeSteps Financial Inc.

LifeSteps Financial Inc. decreased its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,233 shares of the company’s stock after selling 186 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up 1.0% of LifeSteps Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. LifeSteps Financial Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH raised its holdings in AbbVie by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH now owns 25,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,600,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at $606,000. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 39,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,988,000 after buying an additional 5,713 shares in the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $858,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,486,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Guggenheim upped their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $202.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $356.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.18, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $180.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $186.29.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.79 earnings per share. Analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.