Ariel Investments LLC Purchases New Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ariel Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 151,752 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,966,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AXA S.A. grew its stake in AbbVie by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 971,893 shares of the company's stock worth $172,705,000 after purchasing an additional 125,568 shares during the period. Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at about $109,000. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth $1,341,000. Alaethes Wealth LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 8,974 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $1,212,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $194.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised AbbVie to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.41.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE ABBV traded down $2.43 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $196.04. 5,120,647 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,078,152. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $196.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $187.22. The company has a market cap of $346.79 billion, a PE ratio of 81.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. The business had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.31 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 279.15%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. The trade was a 52.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451. Insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

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.