AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Holdings Cut by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 388,002 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,913 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $68,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ABBV. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 89.5% during the second quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,588,000 after buying an additional 4,371 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 227,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,948,000 after acquiring an additional 1,843 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 48,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,236,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in AbbVie during the second quarter worth approximately $4,336,000. Finally, Invst LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 23.0% during the second quarter. Invst LLC now owns 4,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Daiwa America downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $176.90 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.89. 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 company has a market capitalization of $312.60 billion, a PE ratio of 61.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued 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. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

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

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.