North Forty Two & Co. Purchases New Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $462,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth about $1,190,951,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 15.1% during 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 during the period. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 35.9% during 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 period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 26,693.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,176,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,109,000 after buying an additional 1,172,362 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value 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. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 in the last ninety days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $213.80 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $218.66. The stock has a market cap of $377.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The business’s 50 day moving average is $192.47 and its 200-day moving average is $188.31.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share 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 period last year, the business earned $2.79 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend 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.