Vestor Capital LLC Buys 24,581 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Vestor Capital LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 182.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,083 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,581 shares during the quarter. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $6,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $622,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 167,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,762,000 after purchasing an additional 52,947 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in AbbVie by 35.8% during the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. ZEGA Investments LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,990,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in AbbVie by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 13,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on ABBV. Daiwa America downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 in the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $209.98 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $188.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $218.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $370.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.49, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

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.