Western Wealth Management LLC Reduces Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Western Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,319 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,002 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Retirement Income Solutions Inc purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at about $204,000. Ergoteles LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 5,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares in the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,150,000. Wsfs Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at about $562,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP increased its stake in AbbVie by 80.4% during the 1st quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 75,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,242,000 after purchasing an additional 33,661 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total transaction of $2,509,001.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,065 shares in the company, valued at $4,802,413.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.2 %

ABBV stock traded up $0.41 during trading on Thursday, hitting $164.66. The company had a trading volume of 4,479,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,637,517. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.89, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $182.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $159.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.11%.

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.