Forza Wealth Management LLC Has $1.99 Million Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Forza Wealth Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,194 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Forza Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group boosted its position in AbbVie by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 10,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,820,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 25,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,523,000 after purchasing an additional 3,654 shares during the period. Talbot Financial LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 96,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,150,000 after purchasing an additional 4,503 shares during the period. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 132,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ABBV. Citigroup reduced their price target on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Five 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV traded up $2.12 on Monday, reaching $177.29. The stock had a trading volume of 2,233,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,662,838. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a market capitalization of $313.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $178.47 and a 200-day moving average of $184.55.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

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.