AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by SouthState Corp

SouthState Corp cut its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,745 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,608 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $12,927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA now owns 23,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,112,000 after purchasing an additional 3,982 shares during the last quarter. RS Crum Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. RS Crum Inc. now owns 2,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group now owns 25,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,523,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. GWN Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth about $2,402,000. Finally, Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 169,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,098,000 after purchasing an additional 2,974 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $211.90 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $374.07 billion, a PE ratio of 88.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.05.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets cut AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Daiwa America cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given 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 a consensus price target of $211.45.

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.