Goelzer Investment Management Inc. Sells 1,035 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Goelzer Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 51,612 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,035 shares during the quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $9,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at about $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% during the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,448,000 after acquiring an additional 15,550 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 23.5% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,169,000 after purchasing an additional 10,768 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s 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 owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on ABBV. Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Daiwa America downgraded shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $170.05 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $300.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.05, a PEG ratio of 1.68 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. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.78%.

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.