Wedmont Private Capital Increases Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,822 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,654 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter valued at approximately $204,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in AbbVie by 1.6% during the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $995,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lyell Wealth Management LP raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 1,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Daiwa America cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE:ABBV traded up $2.25 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $177.42. 2,026,118 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,639,041. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a market capitalization of $313.53 billion, a PE ratio of 61.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.55.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.78%.

About AbbVie

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.