Orion Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Orion Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,715 shares of the company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in AbbVie by 29,922.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,032,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $899,186,000 after buying an additional 6,012,281 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth $499,955,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 34.6% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,397,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $655,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130,638 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale 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 on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded up $0.33 on Wednesday, reaching $162.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,046,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,628,884. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $174.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $161.10. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $182.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $288.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.27, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.05. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 165.18%. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James boosted 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.31.

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.