Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC Sells 1,974 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC trimmed its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 33.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,866 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,974 shares during the period. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 29,922.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,032,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $899,186,000 after purchasing an additional 6,012,281 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $499,955,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,961,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450,089 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 201.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,143,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $332,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,433,236 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 34.6% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,397,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $655,463,000 after buying an additional 1,130,638 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, COO Robert A. Michael sold 68,879 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.45, for a total value of $12,153,699.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 98,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,405,910.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on ABBV. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded down $1.71 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $167.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,074,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,594,750. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $297.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.96 and a 12-month high of $182.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.60 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.16 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.11%.

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.