First Interstate Bank Decreases Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

First Interstate Bank lowered its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,419 shares of the company’s stock after selling 586 shares during the period. First Interstate Bank’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,150,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the third 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 period. Torray Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 13.0% in the third quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 2,446 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 21.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 26,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,936,000 after acquiring an additional 4,633 shares during the period. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 5.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 118,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,709,000 after acquiring an additional 6,139 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.5 %

ABBV stock traded up $0.87 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $162.54. 4,881,176 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,663,454. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $176.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.81. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.96 and a 1 year high of $182.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $287.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.60 earnings per share. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.11 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value 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 approximately $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,895,641.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ABBV. HSBC lowered shares of AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $167.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Monday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Guggenheim lifted their target price 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. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.43.

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.