AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Bought by Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC

Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 21.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,276 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,656 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in AbbVie by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after purchasing an additional 134,239 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,691,732,000 after purchasing an additional 511,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 582,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in AbbVie by 4.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,842,642,000 after buying an additional 373,802 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Five research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $171.49 on Friday. The company 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $175.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

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

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.