Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC Buys 70 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC grew its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,186 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,906,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,897,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,005,000 after buying an additional 235,348 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at about $204,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 206.2% in the 2nd quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 1,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,000 after acquiring an additional 763 shares during the period. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 326,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,023,000 after acquiring an additional 18,304 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 target price for the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $178.65 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $315.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.03, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $179.04 and its 200-day moving average is $184.34.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.