Ritholtz Wealth Management Buys 245 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 38,302 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $6,806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $173.68 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $176.88 and a 200 day moving average of $184.54. The company has a market capitalization of $306.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.30, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ABBV. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two 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 an average target price of $205.50.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.