Becker Capital Management Inc. Sells 283 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Becker Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,252 shares of the company’s stock after selling 283 shares during the period. Becker Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ABBV. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 20.3% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,487,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,204,000 after acquiring an additional 273,078 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,403,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 7,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,494,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aldebaran Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth $466,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $195.15 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $345.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.31, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $196.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $187.22.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.31 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 279.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $194.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial raised their price target on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.41.

About AbbVie

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.