Baird Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Baird Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,080,595 shares of the company's stock after selling 31,647 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of AbbVie worth $369,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in AbbVie by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,367,162 shares of the company's stock worth $1,664,489,000 after purchasing an additional 108,993 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company's stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. AXA S.A. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 971,893 shares of the company's stock worth $172,705,000 after buying an additional 125,568 shares during the period. Sky Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company's stock worth $7,590,000 after acquiring an additional 3,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 25,822 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,523,000 after purchasing an additional 3,654 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded down $8.75 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $187.32. 9,383,456 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,092,379. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month 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 fifty day moving average price of $196.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $187.27. The company has a market cap of $331.37 billion, a PE ratio of 78.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. The business's revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie's payout ratio is 279.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Truist Financial upped their price target on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.41.

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.