CWS Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 739 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

CWS Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,560 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 739 shares during the quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $988,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp grew its stake in AbbVie by 486.1% in the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after buying an additional 560,808 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie by 41.3% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,448,000 after buying an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after buying an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,169,000 after buying an additional 10,768 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Five equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $204.02 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $181.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.51. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The firm has a market cap of $360.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly 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 296.28%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

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.