Prentice Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,267 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 190 shares during the quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,691,732,000 after acquiring an additional 511,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after purchasing an additional 373,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.0% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,119,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $813,467,000 after purchasing an additional 38,854 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $202.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $356.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $180.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $186.29. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 EPS. Analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ABBV shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.35.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.