Blue Trust Inc. Buys 8,059 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 47,271 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,059 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $8,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% in the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 41.3% during the fourth 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 period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 9.5% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 23.5% during the third 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 period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $170.05 on Monday. 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 $300.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.05, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ABBV shares. Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

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.