Range Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 14,794 AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 14,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,629,000. AbbVie comprises approximately 1.2% of Range Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at $256,000. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 41,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,440,000 after buying an additional 1,904 shares during the last quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 37,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,599,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 8,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,534,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.70.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.3 %

ABBV traded down $0.51 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $179.59. 5,392,909 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,020,276. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $180.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.36. 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 one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $317.36 billion, a PE ratio of 62.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.