Searle & CO. Increases Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Searle & CO. lifted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,747 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises 2.0% of Searle & CO.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Searle & CO.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.6% during the third quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 21,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,254,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 21.6% during the third quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 17,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,680,000 after acquiring an additional 3,197 shares during the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 11.6% during the third quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth $203,000. Finally, Moreno Evelyn V boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 47.1% during the third quarter. Moreno Evelyn V now owns 4,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded down $0.92 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $161.72. The stock had a trading volume of 5,174,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,657,097. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $130.96 and a one year high of $182.89. The company has a market capitalization of $286.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.27, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.10.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.05. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 165.18%. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,855,698.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,855,698.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,895,641.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ABBV. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of 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 shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.31.

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.