AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Bought by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,189,286 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,684 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $211,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its position in AbbVie by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,448,000 after buying an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after buying an additional 3,439 shares in the last quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,590,000 after acquiring an additional 3,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in AbbVie by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 25,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,523,000 after buying an additional 3,654 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $186.58 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $200.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.24. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $218.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The company has a market capitalization of $330.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company posted $2.79 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

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.