Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC lowered its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,406 shares of the company’s stock after selling 221 shares during the quarter. Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,027,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth about $204,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 1.6% during the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $995,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 4.1% in the second quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lyell Wealth Management LP increased its position in AbbVie by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 1,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Guggenheim upped their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Daiwa America cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV traded up $0.95 during trading on Monday, hitting $176.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,338,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,532,414. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $178.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.55.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.78%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.