AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Acquired by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 40,442 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,522 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 61.2% during the third quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 216 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $203.87 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $194.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $360.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.85 and a 52 week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays lifted their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.00.

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.