HighTower Advisors LLC Buys 100,418 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,573,829 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 100,418 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.09% of AbbVie worth $279,669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Windle Wealth LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 41,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,290,000 after buying an additional 1,854 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 65,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,641,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Natural Investments LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,533,000. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,009,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,387,000 after purchasing an additional 242,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $71,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,439 shares of company stock worth $11,377,057. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa America downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Piper Sandler lifted 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 price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $213.71 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $189.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $187.73. The company has a market capitalization of $377.28 billion, a PE ratio of 89.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 273.33%.

AbbVie 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.