Blair William & Co. IL Purchases 29,771 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,201,107 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,771 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.07% of AbbVie worth $213,437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,159,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in AbbVie by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 9,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Doliver Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 5,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $938,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ABBV. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $201.16 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $355.13 billion, a PE ratio of 83.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $196.25 and a 200-day moving average of $188.87. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $218.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share 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. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.