Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Boosts Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 44.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,299 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,689 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 39.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 459.7% during the 3rd quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 240.0% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naples Money Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their price target on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. William Blair upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Raymond James boosted their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,895,641.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total value of $10,539,491.71. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,895,641.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, 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 Trading Down 4.6 %

AbbVie stock traded down $7.67 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $159.62. The company had a trading volume of 10,721,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,004,945. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $174.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.74. The firm has a market cap of $282.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.96 and a 12-month high of $182.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 3.88%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.11%.

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.