Whipplewood Advisors LLC Buys New Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 1,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 203,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,095,000 after acquiring an additional 14,422 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 23,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,150,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 7,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC now owns 8,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,467,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in AbbVie by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,416,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $607,119,000 after acquiring an additional 65,017 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the subject of several research reports. Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $205.06 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $183.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $186.85. The stock has a market cap of $362.00 billion, a PE ratio of 85.44, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.33%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie 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 owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.