Vest Financial LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Vest Financial LLC grew its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 308,782 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,502 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $54,871,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at about $8,777,000. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 0.5% in the third quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 36,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,257,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Keeler & Nadler Financial Planning & Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,110,000. Finally, Merrion Investment Management Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC now owns 7,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ABBV. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $190.67 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $207.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a market cap of $336.94 billion, a PE ratio of 79.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $177.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.48.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 257.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.79 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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