AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by Symmetry Partners LLC

Symmetry Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 91.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,307 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,207 shares during the period. Symmetry Partners LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.3% during the third quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,575,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% in the second quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. First Citizens Financial Corp raised its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% in the third quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,710,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Professional Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.00.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $203.55. 4,493,880 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,329,237. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $359.54 billion, a PE ratio of 70.68, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $135.85 and a one year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

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.