Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Decreases Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 27.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 241,134 shares of the company’s stock after selling 91,118 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in AbbVie were worth $42,761,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in AbbVie by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,147,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,014,000 after purchasing an additional 6,810 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in AbbVie by 12.3% in 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. United Bank bought a new stake in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $217,000. Finally, BIP Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 25.9% during the third quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 2,894 shares of the company’s stock valued at $572,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup increased their target price on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $212.21 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $218.66. The company has a market capitalization of $374.62 billion, a PE ratio of 88.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.79 EPS. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

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.