Worth Asset Management LLC Cuts Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Worth Asset Management LLC decreased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 86.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,516 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,714 shares during the period. Worth Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $269,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter worth $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% during the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after purchasing an additional 560,808 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,448,000 after purchasing an additional 15,550 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after buying an additional 3,439 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 23.5% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,169,000 after buying an additional 10,768 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ABBV. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock traded down $1.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $177.61. 1,327,509 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,381,386. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $180.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.42. The stock has a market cap of $313.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade 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. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.