ERn Financial LLC Raises Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

ERn Financial LLC grew its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 58.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,724 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 637 shares during the period. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 100.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $173.68 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $176.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $306.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on ABBV. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

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.