Cerity Partners LLC Buys 39,454 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 873,918 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 39,454 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $158,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,459,385,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $1,190,951,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,215,903,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466,971 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after buying an additional 3,599,336 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,246,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,064,773,000 after buying an additional 3,373,156 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of several analyst reports. Guggenheim increased their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Down 7.5 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $186.58 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $200.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.18. The company has a market capitalization of $330.06 billion, a PE ratio of 77.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. This represents a 52.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.