First Merchants Corp Buys 28,525 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

First Merchants Corp increased its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 95.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,318 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 28,525 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp's holdings in AbbVie were worth $12,219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company's stock worth $30,754,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,424,237 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,586,948,000 after buying an additional 983,888 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,038,898,000 after buying an additional 778,126 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after acquiring an additional 3,599,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at $4,459,385,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of ABBV traded down $4.90 on Friday, reaching $181.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 29,262,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,318,618. The stock has a market capitalization of $321.29 billion, a PE ratio of 77.40, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $218.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $186.03 and a 200-day moving average of $187.88.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 412.03% and a net margin of 7.31%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. AbbVie's payout ratio is 279.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,183,398.72. This represents a 52.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Erste Group Bank upgraded AbbVie to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America increased their price target on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.29.

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.