Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Trims Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC decreased its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 370,051 shares of the company's stock after selling 69,230 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for approximately 0.7% of Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $65,758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in AbbVie by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus upgraded AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded down $2.21 during trading on Friday, reaching $171.49. The stock had a trading volume of 7,581,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,538,325. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a market capitalization of $303.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.55, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $176.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.54. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.