Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 8,959 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 22.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,171 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,959 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $8,560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GGM Financials LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 0.7% during the third quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the third quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 7,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,383,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. First Bancorp Inc ME increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.6% in the third quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 2,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.1% in the third quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 5,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,041,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ABBV. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Argus upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa America cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $193.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $178.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $341.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.42, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share 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 257.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.79 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

AbbVie Company Profile

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.