Elefante Mark B Buys New Shares in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Elefante Mark B acquired a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,590 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $638,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crestline Management LP raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 438.4% in the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 35,311 shares of the company's stock worth $6,275,000 after purchasing an additional 28,753 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in AbbVie by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,367,162 shares of the company's stock worth $1,664,489,000 after buying an additional 108,993 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in AbbVie by 35.8% during the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company's stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 971,893 shares of the company's stock valued at $172,705,000 after acquiring an additional 125,568 shares during the period. Finally, Sky Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,590,000 after acquiring an additional 3,936 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ABBV. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AbbVie to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $194.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.41.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV traded down $1.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $184.30. 7,806,084 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,133,352. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $194.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $187.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $326.02 billion, a PE ratio of 76.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.31 earnings per share. AbbVie's quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research 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 $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is currently 279.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

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.