Bell Bank Buys 6,333 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Bell Bank increased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 73,150 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,333 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up about 1.0% of Bell Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Bell Bank’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $12,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% in the third 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 position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in AbbVie by 100.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ABBV shares. Piper Sandler raised their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup upped their target price on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $202.03 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $180.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.29. The stock has a market cap of $356.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.79 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.33%.

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.