Chesapeake Wealth Management Lowers Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Chesapeake Wealth Management trimmed its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,157 shares of the company’s stock after selling 365 shares during the quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABBV. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in AbbVie by 100.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Daiwa America lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $172.41 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $175.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.80. The company has a market cap of $304.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.86, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.