Traynor Capital Management Inc. Acquires 686 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Traynor Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,311 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $170.42 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $175.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.73. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $301.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.17, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.58.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

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.