L & S Advisors Inc Sells 149 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

L & S Advisors Inc reduced its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,547 shares of the company’s stock after selling 149 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,985,223.60. This trade represents a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $205.12 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66. The company has a market capitalization of $362.85 billion, a PE ratio of 85.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $197.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66.

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

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 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.