AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by Kovack Advisors Inc.

Kovack Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,499 shares of the company’s stock after selling 139 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,961,001,000 after buying an additional 1,450,089 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in AbbVie by 2.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,175,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,796,085,000 after buying an additional 914,485 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in AbbVie by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,936,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,269,822,000 after buying an additional 491,391 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in AbbVie by 1.8% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,356,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,034,276,000 after buying an additional 352,817 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie by 1.4% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,066,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,098,436,000 after buying an additional 199,833 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Three investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at $9,855,698.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at $10,895,641.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 valued at $67,780,003 over the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of ABBV traded down $7.67 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $159.62. The stock had a trading volume of 10,709,214 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,657,401. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.96 and a fifty-two week high of $182.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.74. The firm has a market cap of $282.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current 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 given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.11%.

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.