Oak Asset Management LLC Sells 425 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Oak Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,063 shares of the company’s stock after selling 425 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises 2.4% of Oak Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Oak Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $6,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,382,000 after buying an additional 134,239 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 3.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,691,732,000 after buying an additional 511,470 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 6.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after buying an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in AbbVie by 4.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after buying an additional 373,802 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $175.46 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $310.06 billion, a PE ratio of 60.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $177.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group boosted their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Daiwa America lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

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.