Southland Equity Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Southland Equity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,445 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,954 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for 1.2% of Southland Equity Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Southland Equity Partners LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,055,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABBV. State Street Corp boosted its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after acquiring an additional 134,239 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,691,732,000 after acquiring an additional 511,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in AbbVie by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,842,642,000 after purchasing an additional 373,802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim increased their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $170.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The firm has a market cap of $300.51 billion, a PE ratio of 59.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $175.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.