Sawyer & Company Inc Sells 3,161 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sawyer & Company Inc reduced its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 19.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,260 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,161 shares during the period. Sawyer & Company Inc's holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in AbbVie by 100.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company's stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV traded up $2.33 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $173.68. 5,228,250 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,333,275. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The company has a market capitalization of $306.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.54.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase from AbbVie's previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABBV. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Five 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

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.