Marshall Financial Group LLC Boosts Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Marshall Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,012 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 435 shares during the quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.5% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 25,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,421,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Annandale Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 686.6% in the second quarter. Annandale Capital LLC now owns 29,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,992,000 after buying an additional 25,406 shares during the period. Copperwynd Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 29.5% in the second quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 89.5% in the second quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,588,000 after buying an additional 4,371 shares during the period. Finally, Silver Lake Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.6% in the second quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC now owns 57,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,850,000 after buying an additional 1,456 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Daiwa America downgraded shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $170.05 on Monday. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $300.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

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.