Axis Wealth Partners LLC Purchases New Shares in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Axis Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. Dillon & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,159,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.1% in the third quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 5,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,041,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthstream Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.0% in the third quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 1,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ABBV. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upped their price target on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim upped their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $214.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $378.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. 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 simple moving average of $187.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.53. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $215.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.79 EPS. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,439 shares of company stock worth $11,377,057. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.