Poplar Forest Capital LLC Sells 175 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Poplar Forest Capital LLC cut its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,575 shares of the company’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 23,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,480,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after buying an additional 2,446 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 21.3% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 26,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,936,000 after buying an additional 4,633 shares during the last quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in AbbVie by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 118,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,709,000 after acquiring an additional 6,139 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total transaction of $3,716,756.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,855,698.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV traded down $1.71 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $167.83. 4,074,754 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,594,750. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $175.13 and its 200 day moving average is $160.62. The company has a market cap of $297.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.96 and a fifty-two week high of $182.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. AbbVie’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. William Blair upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial increased their price target on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Raymond James increased their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.