Tufton Capital Management Sells 690 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Tufton Capital Management trimmed its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 59,460 shares of the company’s stock after selling 690 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up 1.9% of Tufton Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $9,215,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 23,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,480,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Torray Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 13.0% in the third quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after buying an additional 2,446 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 26,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,936,000 after buying an additional 4,633 shares in the last quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 118,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,709,000 after acquiring an additional 6,139 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. William Blair raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial upped their price target on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of ABBV stock traded up $1.89 on Thursday, hitting $166.14. The stock had a trading volume of 1,502,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,595,890. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.96 and a 12-month high of $182.89. The business has a 50 day moving average of $175.79 and a 200 day moving average of $159.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $294.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The company had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.60 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.17 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

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.