Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Reduces Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA trimmed its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,727 shares of the company’s stock after selling 252 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for about 1.7% of Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $15,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. GGM Financials LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.7% in the third quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 7,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,383,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Physicians Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,159,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp raised its holdings in AbbVie by 1.1% in the third quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 5,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,439 shares of company stock worth $11,377,057 over the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ABBV. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wolfe Research started coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $209.07 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $209.60. The stock has a market cap of $369.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.11, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $184.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.98.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.