Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC Sells 100 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC lessened its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,410 shares of the company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,754,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,424,237 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after acquiring an additional 3,599,336 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth about $4,459,385,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,347,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,489,992,000 after purchasing an additional 717,403 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABBV. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Daiwa America cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,985,223.60. The trade was a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $205.12 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $197.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $189.02. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $218.66. The stock has a market cap of $362.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (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 prior year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. 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.