Financial Management Professionals Inc. Increases Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,516 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% during the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after purchasing an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,448,000 after purchasing an additional 15,550 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 23.5% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,169,000 after purchasing an additional 10,768 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.3 %

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

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current 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 issued a $1.64 dividend. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ABBV. UBS Group lifted their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. Five equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.