Sowell Financial Services LLC Acquires 746 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sowell Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,572 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $10,408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in AbbVie by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,439 shares of company stock valued at $11,377,057 in the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ABBV. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Daiwa America downgraded shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $214.55 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $215.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $187.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $187.53. The company has a market cap of $378.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $2.79 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.