Access Financial Services Inc. Grows Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Access Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,313 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the quarter. Access Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,698,000 after purchasing an additional 4,471,806 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,088,000 after acquiring an additional 781,858 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp grew its position in AbbVie by 486.1% in the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ABBV shares. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $171.49 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $175.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.75. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $207.32. The company has a market capitalization of $303.05 billion, a PE ratio of 59.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

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.