BCS Wealth Management Boosts Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

BCS Wealth Management lifted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,899 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the quarter. BCS Wealth Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,048,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in AbbVie by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth $28,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of ABBV opened at $176.94 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $178.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.61. 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 firm has a market cap of $312.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays increased their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Five equities research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie 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 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. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Company 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.