Howe & Rusling Inc. Purchases 10,370 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Howe & Rusling Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,647 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,370 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises about 1.3% of Howe & Rusling Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Howe & Rusling Inc.'s holdings in AbbVie were worth $14,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in AbbVie by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,448,000 after purchasing an additional 15,550 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company's stock worth $7,011,000 after buying an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company's stock worth $7,590,000 after acquiring an additional 3,936 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 25,822 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,523,000 after acquiring an additional 3,654 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup increased their target price on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025 over the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock traded up $2.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $205.12. 6,477,974 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,704,425. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $218.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $197.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $362.85 billion, a PE ratio of 85.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. AbbVie's payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

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.