Balboa Wealth Partners Buys 308 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Balboa Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,193 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in AbbVie by 40.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, 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. Five investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,439 shares of company stock worth $11,377,057. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $211.80 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $189.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $187.89. The company has a market cap of $373.91 billion, a PE ratio of 88.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $218.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 273.33%.

AbbVie 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.