Zions Bancorporation N.A. Acquires 20,560 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 69.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,232 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,560 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for 0.6% of Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $8,926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 2,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 49,353 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,394,000 after purchasing an additional 19,086 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at $717,000. Haverford Trust Co increased its position in AbbVie by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 95,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,998,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory now owns 1,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ABBV. UBS Group increased their price target on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $209.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $195.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.73. The company has a market cap of $369.40 billion, a PE ratio of 87.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.