Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. Boosts Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,662 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $4,459,385,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,190,951,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,875,401,000 after buying an additional 3,599,336 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 35.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,687,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,008,867,000 after buying an additional 1,503,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,754,908,000 after buying an additional 1,424,237 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, 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 value of $1,143,466.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value 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 $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025 over the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price 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. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Trading Up 2.2 %

ABBV opened at $209.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $371.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.43, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $218.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $189.02. 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 (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its 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 net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.79 EPS. Analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

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.