Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. Sells 334 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,061 shares of the company’s stock after selling 334 shares during the period. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. VitalStone Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 218.4% during the second quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at about $38,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded up $1.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $182.10. 5,418,687 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,475,113. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $175.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $158.42. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $182.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $322.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total transaction of $2,509,001.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,065 shares in the company, valued at $4,802,413.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total transaction of $2,509,001.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,065 shares in the company, valued at $4,802,413.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total transaction of $3,716,756.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,855,698.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 over the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $173.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

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.