AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Bought by Verity & Verity LLC

Verity & Verity LLC increased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 171,852 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,544 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises about 2.8% of Verity & Verity LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Verity & Verity LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $30,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV stock traded down $2.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $171.49. 7,581,211 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,943,678. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock's fifty day moving average is $175.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.60. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a market cap of $303.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. This is a boost from AbbVie's previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler Companies restated an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup reduced their target price on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Five equities research 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.50.

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.