Brick & Kyle Associates Sells 14,985 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Brick & Kyle Associates cut its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 42.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,358 shares of the company's stock after selling 14,985 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for about 2.0% of Brick & Kyle Associates' investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Brick & Kyle Associates' holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crestline Management LP raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 438.4% during the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 35,311 shares of the company's stock worth $6,275,000 after buying an additional 28,753 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,367,162 shares of the company's stock worth $1,664,489,000 after buying an additional 108,993 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised 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 last quarter. AXA S.A. raised 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 last quarter. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.3% during the first quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 46,853 shares of the company's stock worth $9,817,000 after buying an additional 2,792 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AbbVie to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.29.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock traded up $5.00 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $195.62. 2,333,404 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,273,887. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.81 and a 52 week high of $218.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $345.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.48. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $187.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $188.78.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. On average, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is currently 279.15%.

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.