Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Increases Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 37.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,884 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,268 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS's holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ABBV shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Argus raised AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $202.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,879,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,370,269. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The firm's 50 day moving average is $181.25 and its 200-day moving average is $186.41. The firm has a market cap of $356.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.58.

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

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is presently 273.33%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.