AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Bought by DF Dent & Co. Inc.

DF Dent & Co. Inc. grew its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 27,922 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,962,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in AbbVie by 12.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,487,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,204,000 after purchasing an additional 273,078 shares during the period. United Bank purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $217,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth about $152,000. Finally, Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ABBV. Piper Sandler raised their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of ABBV opened at $201.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $200.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $356.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.88, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released 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 return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.79 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued 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 3.26%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451 in the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.