Gradient Investments LLC Acquires 7,894 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,459 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,894 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $15,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in AbbVie by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $170.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $175.84 and a 200-day moving average of $184.66. The company 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. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its 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 return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial cut their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.