AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Purchased by Southland Equity Partners LLC

Southland Equity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 16.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 28,445 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,954 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up approximately 1.2% of Southland Equity Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Southland Equity Partners LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,055,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,382,000 after purchasing an additional 134,239 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,732,000 after buying an additional 511,470 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 6.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,009,542,000 after buying an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in AbbVie by 4.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after buying an additional 373,802 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ABBV shares. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Daiwa America cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Five 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.4 %

ABBV stock opened at $170.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $300.51 billion, a PE ratio of 59.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.78%.

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.