Benson Investment Management Company Inc. Buys Shares of 26,496 AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Benson Investment Management Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 26,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,708,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter worth $28,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $176.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $178.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.61. The company has a market capitalization of $312.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.44, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Daiwa America lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.