Czech National Bank Purchases 23,328 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 383,151 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 23,328 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises 0.6% of Czech National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Czech National Bank’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $68,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at about $204,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% during the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $995,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.1% in the second quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lyell Wealth Management LP boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 1,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on ABBV. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa America cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $175.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $178.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $309.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.