S.A. Mason LLC Has $1.90 Million Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

S.A. Mason LLC lowered its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,267 shares of the company’s stock after selling 83 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises about 1.3% of S.A. Mason LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Whitcomb & Hess Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Whitcomb & Hess Inc. now owns 2,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 15,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after acquiring an additional 1,110 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co of the South acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth about $981,000. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 28,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. HSBC cut AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $167.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $173.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 11th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other AbbVie news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $2,509,001.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 over the last ninety days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $180.35 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.96 and a 12-month high of $182.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $174.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $157.81. The company has a market capitalization of $319.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.58. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The company had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.60 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

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.