NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan Lowers Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan lessened its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 17.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,964 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the quarter. NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its stake in AbbVie by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 4,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $706,000 after acquiring an additional 888 shares in the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 117.7% in the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 20,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,147,000 after acquiring an additional 10,976 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth about $77,000. BIP Wealth LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 2,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 40,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,893 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at $92,020,679.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of AbbVie stock traded down $7.67 on Friday, reaching $159.62. The company had a trading volume of 10,629,031 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,628,665. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $182.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $174.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $160.67. The firm has a market cap of $282.63 billion, a PE ratio of 58.94, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.11. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

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.