CWA Asset Management Group LLC Has $8.60 Million Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC cut its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 13.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 48,383 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,268 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $8,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth about $202,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 38.6% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 233,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,008,000 after purchasing an additional 64,979 shares in the last quarter. Umpqua Bank increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 24.4% in the second quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 2,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 10,713.6% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 279,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 276,946 shares during the period. Finally, Chris Bulman Inc bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter worth about $420,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on ABBV shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Daiwa America cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.70.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV traded down $0.84 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $180.38. 791,305 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,050,870. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $318.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $180.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.78%.

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 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 $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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.