AM Investment Strategies LLC Purchases New Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

AM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,049 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $720,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth about $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp increased its stake in AbbVie by 486.1% in the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company's stock valued at $133,531,000 after buying an additional 560,808 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 41.3% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,448,000 after buying an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,011,000 after buying an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,169,000 after buying an additional 10,768 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on ABBV shares. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE:ABBV traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $170.05. The company had a trading volume of 5,584,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,522,214. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $175.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.77. The company has a market capitalization of $300.51 billion, a PE ratio of 59.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie's previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. AbbVie's payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.