AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Position Boosted by Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,611 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 116,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,024,000 after acquiring an additional 7,289 shares in the last quarter. Ledyard National Bank boosted its stake in AbbVie by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 19,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,082,000 after buying an additional 2,859 shares in the last quarter. Steele Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth about $2,055,000. Altrius Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 23,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,585,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intrust Bank NA raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 23,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,643,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at $92,020,679.73. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Truist Financial increased their price target on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.31.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $162.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $288.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.96 and a 1 year 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. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.10.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced 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 return on equity of 165.18% and a net margin of 11.02%. 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 previous year, the company earned $2.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.