Blueprint Investment Partners LLC Cuts Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Blueprint Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 28.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,847 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,932 shares during the quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Swedbank AB raised its position in AbbVie by 0.3% during 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 position in shares of AbbVie by 20.3% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 273,078 shares in the last quarter. United Bank purchased a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth $217,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 16.8% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 19,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 2,838 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on ABBV. Daiwa Capital Markets cut AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $209.98 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $218.66. The business’s 50-day moving average is $194.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.67. 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 capitalization of $370.68 billion, a PE ratio of 87.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.79 EPS. Research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

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.