Court Place Advisors LLC Cuts Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Court Place Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,472 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,023 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up approximately 0.9% of Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after purchasing an additional 4,471,806 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,088,000 after buying an additional 781,858 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% in the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $176.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $312.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Five 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Profile

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.