AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Bought by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 97,685 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,120 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $17,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Peninsula Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC now owns 1,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Physicians Financial Services Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,159,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in AbbVie by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 9,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,749,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the firm’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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451 over the last 90 days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $185.58 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $194.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $187.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $218.66. The firm has a market cap of $328.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.32, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.31 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 279.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.41.

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.