AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) is Verity & Verity LLC’s 6th Largest Position

Verity & Verity LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 171,852 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,544 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up 2.8% of Verity & Verity LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $30,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 177,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,584,000 after acquiring an additional 8,550 shares in the last quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH increased its position in AbbVie by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 4,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $754,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC now owns 32,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,706,000 after purchasing an additional 3,320 shares in the last quarter. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management now owns 27,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,912,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Daiwa America cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $171.49 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $175.78 and a 200-day moving average of $184.60. The stock has a market cap of $303.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

About AbbVie

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.