Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Decreases Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. reduced its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 163,100 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,019 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in AbbVie were worth $34,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,754,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,424,237 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,586,948,000 after purchasing an additional 983,888 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,038,898,000 after purchasing an additional 778,126 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at $4,459,385,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,824,626 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,878,236,000 after purchasing an additional 2,299,645 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Citigroup increased their price target on AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $194.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.29.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV traded down $2.68 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $192.32. 4,990,162 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,302,947. The stock has a market cap of $339.71 billion, a PE ratio of 81.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $187.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.98. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.81 and a 12 month high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 412.03% and a net margin of 7.31%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. Equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 279.15%.

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.