Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Sells 19,650 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. lessened its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 52.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,998 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,650 shares during the quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 4,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 7.6% in the third quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,504,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $9,331,000. KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.3% during the third quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 78,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,560,000 after acquiring an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 60,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303 shares in 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 subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.89.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $164.91 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $137.05 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The firm has a market cap of $291.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $192.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $180.78.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

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.