Greystone Financial Group LLC Invests $606,000 in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Greystone Financial Group LLC bought a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 3,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $606,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $202.03 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.29. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The firm has a market cap of $356.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five 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, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.35.

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.