AmeriServ Wealth Advisors Takes $334,000 Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

AmeriServ Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $334,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,110 shares of the company's stock worth $553,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Peninsula Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC now owns 1,360 shares of the company's stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Physicians Financial Services Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,150 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,159,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 9,842 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,749,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Raymond James reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.41.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE ABBV traded down $2.43 on Monday, reaching $196.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,120,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,078,152. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $196.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.22. The firm 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. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given 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 yield of 3.35%. AbbVie's payout ratio is presently 279.15%.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.