Carlson Capital Management Boosts Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Carlson Capital Management increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 28.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,029 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 454 shares during the period. Carlson Capital Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in AbbVie by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,875,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599,336 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,691,732,000 after acquiring an additional 511,470 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in AbbVie by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after acquiring an additional 373,802 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $214.45 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $191.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $188.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The stock has a market cap of $378.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.35, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $2.79 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 yield of 3.06%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on ABBV. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was 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 $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 over the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About AbbVie

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.