West Branch Capital LLC Sells 878 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

West Branch Capital LLC decreased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,743 shares of the company’s stock after selling 878 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for 1.6% of West Branch Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GGM Financials LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Dillon & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp grew its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the third quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its position in AbbVie by 0.4% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,710,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Five investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $169.19 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.75, a PEG ratio of 1.69 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. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $175.75 and a 200 day moving average of $184.84.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.78%.

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.