Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC Purchases 70 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,186 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Michael S. Ryan Inc. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Michael S. Ryan Inc. now owns 3,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $646,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. raised its stake in AbbVie by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 25,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,481,000 after acquiring an additional 915 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 34,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,209,000 after acquiring an additional 996 shares during the last quarter. InvesTrust acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,466,000. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 53,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,429,000 after purchasing an additional 5,351 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ABBV. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE ABBV opened at $178.65 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $315.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.78%.

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.