AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Purchased by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,038 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,691 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $18,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Collar Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,267,000. Concorde Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Concorde Financial Corp now owns 32,897 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,846,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 16,358 shares of the company's stock worth $2,907,000 after purchasing an additional 2,254 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,781,000. Finally, Crestline Management LP lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 28,753 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on ABBV shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of AbbVie 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of AbbVie stock traded down $1.28 on Friday, reaching $184.30. The stock had a trading volume of 7,806,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,122,857. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $218.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $326.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $194.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.23.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. The company had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. AbbVie's payout ratio is 279.15%.

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.