Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Has $29.72 Million Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC trimmed its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 191,764 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,268 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up about 2.4% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $29,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 89,097.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,203,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,719,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,170,366 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,033,348,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in AbbVie by 29,922.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,032,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $899,186,000 after acquiring an additional 6,012,281 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in AbbVie by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 31,571,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,102,311,000 after acquiring an additional 4,785,277 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 426.5% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,652,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $754,155,000 after purchasing an additional 3,768,579 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 13,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.51, for a total transaction of $2,441,295.03. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,000,989.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of AbbVie stock traded up $1.62 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $181.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,418,371 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,696,566. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $130.96 and a one year high of $182.89. The company has a market capitalization of $322.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $157.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ABBV shares. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $173.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 11th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $167.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

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.