AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Purchased by 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,755 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the period. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Keystone Financial Group lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 17,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,190,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 17,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,150,000 after acquiring an additional 8,140 shares during the period. Altman Advisors Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 15,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,697,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 567,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,855,000 after acquiring an additional 12,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,486,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $194.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on AbbVie from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.71.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $174.90 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $200.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $188.49. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week high of $218.66. The stock has a market cap of $309.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.87, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at $11,183,398.72. This represents a 52.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,985,223.60. The trade was a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.