Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,719 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,905,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 484,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,064,000 after acquiring an additional 48,722 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 11,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,952,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.7% in the second quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 15,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,574,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 32.8% in the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 47,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,062,000 after purchasing an additional 11,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.0% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,309,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,637,000 after purchasing an additional 26,088 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $171.49 on Monday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $175.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $303.05 billion, a PE ratio of 59.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 target price for the company. Citigroup cut their price target on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. 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 MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.