Moment Partners LLC Buys Shares of 5,779 AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Moment Partners LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 5,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,027,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,190,951,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,875,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599,336 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in AbbVie by 35.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,687,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,008,867,000 after buying an additional 1,503,875 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,754,908,000 after buying an additional 1,424,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in AbbVie by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after buying an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ABBV. Bank of America upped their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.45.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $201.16 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $218.66. The stock has a market cap of $355.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $196.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $188.87.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

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.