Gotham Asset Management LLC Trims Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Gotham Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 37.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,387 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,305 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Forest Hill Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Forest Hill Capital LLC now owns 4,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $746,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Elefante Mark B purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth approximately $638,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in AbbVie by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 2,059,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,953,000 after buying an additional 29,697 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 97,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,359,000 after buying an additional 10,120 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Trust Co increased its stake in AbbVie by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 303,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,893,000 after buying an additional 3,674 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,183,398.72. This represents a 52.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares in the company, 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 sold a total of 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AbbVie to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.41.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE ABBV opened at $187.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $332.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $193.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $187.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.31 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors 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 yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 279.15%.

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.