Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Has $28 Million Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lowered its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 157,575 shares of the company's stock after selling 16,081 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up 1.9% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $28,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hilltop National Bank boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 4,736 shares of the company's stock worth $842,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 68,108 shares of the company's stock worth $12,103,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 12,096 shares of the company's stock worth $2,155,000 after acquiring an additional 2,535 shares in the last quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,890 shares of the company's stock worth $691,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 10,350 shares of the company's stock worth $1,839,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of AbbVie from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen increased 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, Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE ABBV traded down $3.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $175.18. 5,311,541 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,080,179. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.34. The stock has a market cap of $309.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. This is a boost from AbbVie's previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.78%.

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.