Sanders Morris Harris LLC Sells 300 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sanders Morris Harris LLC lowered its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,531 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up approximately 0.6% of Sanders Morris Harris LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Sanders Morris Harris LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BFI Infinity Ltd. bought a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth about $365,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 150.0% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Mason & Associates Inc raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 49.9% during the fourth quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 4,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. lifted its position in AbbVie by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. now owns 10,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297 shares during the period. Finally, MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC now owns 16,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $173.68 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $176.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.54. The firm has a market cap of $306.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % 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. Corporate 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.