Guinness Asset Management LTD Acquires 60,598 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,220,377 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 60,598 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for 4.1% of Guinness Asset Management LTD's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Guinness Asset Management LTD owned 0.07% of AbbVie worth $216,772,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in AbbVie by 100.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded up $0.20 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $171.76. The company had a trading volume of 3,515,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,380,780. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. 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 price is $175.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $303.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS 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 given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a positive change from AbbVie's previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of AbbVie from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. Five equities research 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie 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 owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was 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 link. 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.