HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Grows Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 198,787 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 15,890 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for about 2.1% of HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $45,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in AbbVie by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,044,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,888,000 after buying an additional 151,644 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 177,747,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,155,601,000 after buying an additional 448,554 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 25.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 401,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,024,000 after buying an additional 81,625 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 55,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,885,000 after purchasing an additional 5,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 32,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,484,000 after purchasing an additional 5,427 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.56, for a total value of $1,221,518.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $619,868.24. This trade represents a 66.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $5,147,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,771,510. This trade represents a 36.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $202.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $212.22 and a 200-day moving average of $220.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $358.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.32. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.57 and a 52 week high of $244.81.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.72 billion. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 911.57% and a net margin of 5.79%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.46 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.73 dividend. This represents a $6.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 340.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore cut their price objective on AbbVie from $232.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Citigroup cut their price objective on AbbVie from $235.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Barclays initiated coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. DZ Bank upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on AbbVie from $299.00 to $294.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $252.90.

About AbbVie

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.