River Road Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

River Road Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 15.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 46,378 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,211 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $8,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,147,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $424,014,000 after acquiring an additional 6,810 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 20.3% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,487,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,204,000 after purchasing an additional 273,078 shares during the last quarter. United Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at $217,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 1,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. This trade represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,439 shares of company stock valued at $11,377,057. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $213.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $377.28 billion, a PE ratio of 89.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $189.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $187.73.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 273.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Daiwa America cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research began coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

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.