Ellenbecker Investment Group Grows Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ellenbecker Investment Group lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,884 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $911,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 31.9% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 15,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,371,000 after buying an additional 3,698 shares during the last quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 2,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 45.8% during the 4th quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 592 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on ABBV. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,855,698.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total transaction of $3,716,756.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,855,698.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock traded up $1.65 on Tuesday, reaching $169.54. The stock had a trading volume of 4,083,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,615,512. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.96 and a 1 year high of $182.89. The company has a market cap of $300.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The business’s 50 day moving average is $175.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.42.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.16 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.11%.

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.