Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC Reduces Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,483 shares of the company’s stock after selling 567 shares during the quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,507,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Shilanski & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Shilanski & Associates Inc. now owns 22,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,010,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Matthew Goff Investment Advisor LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Matthew Goff Investment Advisor LLC now owns 17,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,120,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Motive Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Motive Wealth Advisors now owns 1,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. MFA Wealth Services bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $420,000. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 175,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,781 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $170.05 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $300.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $175.74 and a 200-day moving average of $184.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders 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 represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.