AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Stake Lifted by Wright Investors Service Inc.

Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,272 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,438 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for about 2.0% of Wright Investors Service Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,171,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,961,001,000 after buying an additional 1,450,089 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,175,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,796,085,000 after purchasing an additional 914,485 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 89,097.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,203,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,719,514,000 after purchasing an additional 29,170,366 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,936,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,269,822,000 after purchasing an additional 491,391 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.8% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,356,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,034,276,000 after purchasing an additional 352,817 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on ABBV shares. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE ABBV traded up $2.52 on Thursday, reaching $166.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,449,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,595,890. The firm has a market cap of $295.29 billion, a PE ratio of 61.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $175.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.94. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.96 and a 52 week high of $182.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.17 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total value 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 approximately $10,895,641.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were 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 in the company, 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 quarter. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.