Meridian Wealth Partners LLC Grows Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Meridian Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,219 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,448,000 after acquiring an additional 15,550 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after acquiring an additional 3,439 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,590,000 after acquiring an additional 3,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,654 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 in the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ABBV. Truist Financial boosted their target price on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America upped their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $209.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $370.68 billion, a PE ratio of 87.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $218.66. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $188.67.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly 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 period last year, the company posted $2.79 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.