Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. reduced its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,644 shares of the company’s stock after selling 298 shares during the quarter. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,445,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. FLC Capital Advisors increased its holdings in AbbVie by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $872,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 36,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594 shares in the last quarter. Baugh & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Baugh & Associates LLC now owns 45,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,768,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares during the period. AHL Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,961,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its stake in AbbVie by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 11,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,984,000 after buying an additional 1,044 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ABBV shares. Daiwa America lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 target price for the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE ABBV opened at $171.49 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $175.78 and a 200-day moving average of $184.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32. The firm has a market cap of $303.05 billion, a PE ratio of 59.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 215.28%.

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.