Affinity Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Affinity Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,468 shares of the company’s stock after selling 240 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up about 1.7% of Affinity Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Frisch Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% during the second quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the third quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% in the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,710,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Professional Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $203.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $359.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $194.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $179.38. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $135.85 and a one year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.9 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.