Court Place Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Court Place Advisors LLC trimmed its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,472 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,023 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises approximately 0.9% of Court Place Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Court Place Advisors LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company's stock worth $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 3.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company's stock worth $2,691,732,000 after acquiring an additional 511,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 6.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company's stock worth $2,009,542,000 after purchasing an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after purchasing an additional 373,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company's stock worth $933,698,000 after acquiring an additional 4,471,806 shares during the period. 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 research reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on AbbVie from $215.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered AbbVie from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.00.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded down $2.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $174.88. 5,603,615 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,088,012. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.94. The company has a market cap of $309.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.72, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. AbbVie's payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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.