Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. Sells 623 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. lessened its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,052 shares of the company’s stock after selling 623 shares during the period. Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 39.5% in the third quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 286 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 459.7% in the 3rd quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 240.0% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABBV. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV traded down $0.52 on Thursday, reaching $167.28. 5,502,087 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,594,213. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $130.96 and a one year high of $182.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $296.19 billion, a PE ratio of 61.28, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $160.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.60 earnings per share. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 stock was 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 directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 in the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is owned by 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.