Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 9,807 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 19.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,033 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,807 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $12,369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,754,908,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424,237 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company's stock worth $6,586,948,000 after buying an additional 983,888 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company's stock worth $6,038,898,000 after buying an additional 778,126 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 15.1% in 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $4,459,385,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE ABBV traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $187.29. 4,071,138 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,232,561. 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 business's 50-day moving average is $185.01 and its 200-day moving average is $186.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $330.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.16 and a twelve month high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. AbbVie's quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price 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. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $205.00 price target (down from $210.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Erste Group Bank upgraded AbbVie to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $210.95.

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.