Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc. Takes $320,000 Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GGM Financials LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 0.7% during the third quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its position in AbbVie by 0.3% during the third quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Dillon & Associates Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 0.8% during the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. First Citizens Financial Corp grew its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its position in AbbVie by 0.4% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,710,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $170.05 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $300.51 billion, a PE ratio of 59.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $175.84 and a 200-day moving average of $184.77. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week 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.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The company 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 business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. 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 is 227.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ABBV. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group upped their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their target price on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate 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.