AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Bought by Private Advisor Group LLC

Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 72.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 477,337 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 201,178 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $84,823,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,732,000 after buying an additional 511,470 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,009,542,000 after buying an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,842,642,000 after buying an additional 373,802 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,698,000 after buying an additional 4,471,806 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

AbbVie Stock Up 1.8 %

ABBV stock opened at $196.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $347.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.82, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $179.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $186.06.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 257.91% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

AbbVie Company Profile

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.