Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. Raises Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 33,301 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,448,000 after acquiring an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,590,000 after buying an additional 3,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in AbbVie by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 25,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,523,000 after buying an additional 3,654 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of ABBV opened at $201.12 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $218.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $195.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $355.05 billion, a PE ratio of 83.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly 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 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.79 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on ABBV shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

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.