Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC Increases Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 21.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,276 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,656 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $836,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 3,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $647,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 37,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,619,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Salley Wealth Management raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 170,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ABBV. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. 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. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Daiwa America lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $171.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32. The firm has a market cap of $303.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $175.78 and a 200-day moving average of $184.60.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 215.28%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.