Gabelli Funds LLC Sells 19,750 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Key Points

• Gabelli Funds LLC reduced its AbbVie stake by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 19,750 shares and ending with 81,213 shares valued at about $18.6 million.
• AbbVie insiders also sold shares, including EVP Perry C. Siatis and SVP David Ryan Purdue, both making sizable stock sales in recent weeks.
• The company posted solid quarterly results, with earnings of $2.65 per share and revenue of $15 billion, both topping analyst expectations, while also paying a quarterly dividend of $1.73 per share.

Gabelli Funds LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 19.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,213 shares of the company's stock after selling 19,750 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $18,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 22,912 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,072,000 after acquiring an additional 3,401 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 72.7% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,279 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,064 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 5.0% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 16,466 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,056,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.6% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 120,035 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 117.3% in the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,135,034 shares of the company's stock valued at $210,685,000 after acquiring an additional 612,702 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $5,147,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 38,137 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,771,510. The trade was a 36.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.56, for a total value of $1,221,518.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,654 shares of the company's stock, valued at $619,868.24. The trade was a 66.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. DZ Bank upgraded AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Berenberg Bank set a $275.00 target price on AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, March 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $253.43.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.4%

AbbVie stock opened at $209.57 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $180.25 and a 52 week high of $244.81. The company has a market capitalization of $370.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $209.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $219.92.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 576.45% and a net margin of 5.79%.The firm had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.46 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a $1.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. AbbVie's payout ratio is presently 340.89%.

AbbVie Profile

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie's product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women's health.

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