Clarity Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stake in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Clarity Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 35.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 154 shares of the company’s stock after selling 84 shares during the quarter. Clarity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $32,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 22,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,072,000 after acquiring an additional 3,401 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 72.7% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,064 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its position in AbbVie by 72.2% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 1,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 3,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $687,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at $11,381,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABBV. Daiwa America raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. BNP Paribas raised AbbVie to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $231.00 price target for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.95.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $208.51 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $193.64 and its 200 day moving average is $193.18. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.81 and a 1 year high of $218.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $368.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The business had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 312.38%.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total transaction of $2,639,190.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value of $8,407,055.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Company 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.