Winthrop Advisory Group LLC Raises Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Winthrop Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 34.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,494 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares during the period. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $799,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Matrix Trust Co boosted its position in AbbVie by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 13,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $979,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in AbbVie by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 383,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,086,000 after purchasing an additional 23,328 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,317,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Capital Advisors llc boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 22,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,019,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV traded up $0.60 during trading on Monday, reaching $175.77. The company had a trading volume of 486,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,404,003. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $310.61 billion, a PE ratio of 61.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $178.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.55. 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 (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.