Bailard Inc. Reduces Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Bailard Inc. trimmed its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,931 shares of the company’s stock after selling 182 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BIP Wealth LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 2,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 40,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,893 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 147,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,840,000 after acquiring an additional 1,816 shares during the period. Wynn Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $1,305,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 71,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,126,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV traded down $0.80 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $167.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,452,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,566,717. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $175.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $295.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.97, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.96 and a fifty-two week high of $182.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at $9,855,698.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,855,698.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 over the last ninety days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Company 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.