Clayton Partners LLC Lowers Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Clayton Partners LLC decreased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,979 shares of the company’s stock after selling 101 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises 2.5% of Clayton Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Clayton Partners LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. RS Crum Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. RS Crum Inc. now owns 2,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group now owns 25,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,523,000 after buying an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $2,402,000. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 169,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,098,000 after buying an additional 2,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Altus Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $211.90 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $191.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.10. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week high of $218.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The company has a market cap of $374.07 billion, a PE ratio of 88.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 56,439 shares of company stock valued at $11,377,057. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie 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.