Lighthouse Wealth Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 9,977 AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Lighthouse Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 9,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,773,000. AbbVie makes up approximately 1.6% of Lighthouse Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. State Street Corp raised its holdings in AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,691,732,000 after purchasing an additional 511,470 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 6.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,009,542,000 after buying an additional 582,953 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in AbbVie by 4.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,842,642,000 after buying an additional 373,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after buying an additional 4,471,806 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Five research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Trading Up 3.9 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $176.90 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The stock has a market cap of $312.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.89.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

About AbbVie

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.