AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC reduced its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 38.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,731 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,619 shares during the quarter. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $888,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,961,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450,089 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in AbbVie by 2.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,175,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,796,085,000 after acquiring an additional 914,485 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in AbbVie by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,936,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,269,822,000 after acquiring an additional 491,391 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in AbbVie by 1.8% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,356,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,034,276,000 after acquiring an additional 352,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 1.4% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,066,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,098,436,000 after acquiring an additional 199,833 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ABBV. William Blair upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays decreased their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.31.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock traded up $2.98 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $163.79. 5,850,102 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,457,836. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $173.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $161.22. The firm has a market cap of $290.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.60, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.96 and a fifty-two week high of $182.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 165.18%. AbbVie’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.29 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total transaction of $2,509,001.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,802,413.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $2,509,001.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,802,413.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total transaction of $3,716,756.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at $9,855,698.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.