Artemis Investment Management LLP Buys 417,839 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 633.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 483,827 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 417,839 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for about 1.2% of Artemis Investment Management LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Artemis Investment Management LLP's holdings in AbbVie were worth $85,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. GGM Financials LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company's stock worth $1,362,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its position in AbbVie by 0.3% in the third quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company's stock worth $3,575,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 0.8% in the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company's stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the third quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. raised its position in AbbVie by 0.4% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,723 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,710,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.3 %

AbbVie stock traded down $2.21 on Monday, hitting $171.49. 7,581,211 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,943,678. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The firm has a market cap of $303.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $175.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.75.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 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 business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current 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 $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. This is an increase from AbbVie's previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie's payout ratio is 215.28%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

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.