BluePath Capital Management LLC Increases Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

BluePath Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 20.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,158 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 1,902 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for 1.1% of BluePath Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. BluePath Capital Management LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ABBV. Sendero Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,251 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,289,000 after acquiring an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc grew its holdings in AbbVie by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 5,156 shares of the company's stock worth $916,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 9,842 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 7,273 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,292,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the period. Finally, Burney Co. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 64,416 shares of the company's stock worth $11,447,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV stock traded up $2.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $173.68. The company had a trading volume of 5,228,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,333,275. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $306.91 billion, a PE ratio of 60.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $176.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.54.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. On average, 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. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie's previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie's payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

AbbVie Company 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.