Eastern Bank Purchases 78,551 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Eastern Bank boosted its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 58.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 212,275 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 78,551 shares during the period. Eastern Bank's holdings in AbbVie were worth $41,920,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,575,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Frisch Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,920 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,187,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,141,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,723 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,710,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Professional Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Professional Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,638 shares of the company's stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen increased their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America increased their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $198.47.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV traded up $2.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $188.78. The stock had a trading volume of 4,210,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,290,868. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.85 and a twelve month high of $199.95. The stock has a market cap of $333.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.33, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $194.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. AbbVie's revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

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.