AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Stake Cut by Cohen Klingenstein LLC

Cohen Klingenstein LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 64.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,000 shares of the company's stock after selling 32,500 shares during the period. Cohen Klingenstein LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,199,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 3,760 shares of the company's stock valued at $668,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Alhambra Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC now owns 3,495 shares of the company's stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 171,852 shares of the company's stock worth $30,538,000 after purchasing an additional 8,544 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 177,739 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,584,000 after purchasing an additional 8,550 shares during the period. Finally, FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 4,242 shares of the company's stock valued at $754,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Five 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

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 transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE:ABBV traded down $2.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $171.49. The stock had a trading volume of 7,581,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,943,678. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.60. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32. 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 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 - 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. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This is a boost from AbbVie's previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. AbbVie's payout ratio is 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.