Ieq Capital LLC Sells 35,104 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ieq Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 31.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 76,605 shares of the company's stock after selling 35,104 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $13,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 511,470 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company's stock worth $1,842,642,000 after purchasing an additional 373,802 shares during the period. 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 purchasing an additional 4,471,806 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $202.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,879,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,370,269. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a market capitalization of $356.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $181.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.41.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $206.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.35.

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.