RiverFront Investment Group LLC Boosts Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

RiverFront Investment Group LLC raised its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 62,243 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,449 shares during the period. RiverFront Investment Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $9,646,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $201,000. Blue Fin Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Fin Capital Inc. now owns 14,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,141,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 29.9% during the 3rd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 128,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,106,000 after purchasing an additional 29,506 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 26,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,005,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Investment Group LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 14,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,176,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total transaction of $2,509,001.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,802,413.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total transaction of $2,509,001.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,802,413.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABBV. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Trading Down 4.6 %

NYSE ABBV traded down $7.67 during trading on Friday, hitting $159.62. 10,721,740 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,004,945. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $174.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $160.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.96 and a 12-month high of $182.89. The firm has a market cap of $282.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.37, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given 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 yield of 3.88%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

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.