MCF Advisors LLC Purchases 370 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

MCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,878 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the quarter. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. increased its stake in AbbVie by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Leerink Partnrs raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup dropped their price target on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $169.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $298.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $175.75 and its 200-day moving average is $184.84. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

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.