Nuveen Asset Management LLC Sells 421,017 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,088,354 shares of the company’s stock after selling 421,017 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned about 0.51% of AbbVie worth $1,615,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Peninsula Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC now owns 1,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,159,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 9,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,749,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.41.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $187.95 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $332.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $193.34 and its 200-day moving average is $187.23. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.31 EPS. Equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. 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 3.49%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 279.15%.

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.