Madison Asset Management LLC Sells 4,957 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Madison Asset Management LLC lessened its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 5.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,270 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,957 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $16,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 13.5% in the first quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 89,376 shares of the company's stock worth $18,726,000 after acquiring an additional 10,620 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 160.6% during the 1st quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 6,271 shares of the company's stock worth $1,314,000 after purchasing an additional 3,865 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 75,706 shares of the company's stock worth $15,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,037 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,909 shares of the company's stock worth $1,448,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 716,772 shares of the company's stock worth $150,178,000 after purchasing an additional 13,600 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Guggenheim increased their price objective on AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $194.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.29.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE ABBV traded up $0.30 during trading on Thursday, reaching $190.85. 3,457,672 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,902,547. 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 stock's 50 day moving average price is $187.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $189.55. The company has a market cap of $337.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.48. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.81 and a 1-year high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 412.03% and a net margin of 7.31%. AbbVie's revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. AbbVie's payout ratio is currently 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.