Paragon Financial Partners Inc. Sells 3,059 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Paragon Financial Partners Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 63.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,794 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,059 shares during the quarter. Paragon Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $641,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 33.0% during the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 589 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. NBW Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1,167.8% during the 2nd quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 38,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,635,000 after acquiring an additional 35,631 shares in the last quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 44.9% during the 2nd quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 17,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,010,000 after acquiring an additional 5,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 114,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,594,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $169.19 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.84.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

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.