Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. Grows Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. increased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 26,662 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 42.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,236,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,452,000 after buying an additional 669,493 shares in the last quarter. Partners in Financial Planning bought a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Everstar Asset Management LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Everstar Asset Management LLC now owns 2,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $485,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 222,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,572,000 after purchasing an additional 8,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 56.8% in the 4th quarter. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $209.83 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $198.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $189.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $371.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company posted $2.79 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,985,223.60. This trade represents a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Daiwa America downgraded shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

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.