Whitcomb & Hess Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Whitcomb & Hess Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 23.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 582 shares during the quarter. Whitcomb & Hess Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Able Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. IFS Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on ABBV. Barclays decreased their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. HSBC raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.64.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of AbbVie stock traded down $1.99 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $170.75. 5,712,613 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,519,948. The company has a market cap of $301.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.94. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.96 and a 52 week high of $182.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 179.47%. The company had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.98%.

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.