Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,842 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $8,777,000. Swedbank AB increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,147,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,014,000 after acquiring an additional 6,810 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 20.3% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $1,186,000. Finally, Wallington Asset Management LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $277,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Five research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV stock opened at $200.98 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $180.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.19. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $354.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.74, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released 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 previous year, the business earned $2.79 EPS. Equities research 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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.