Capital Market Strategies LLC Buys 89 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Capital Market Strategies LLC lifted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,679 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up about 1.1% of Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pensionfund Sabic increased its position in AbbVie by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 19,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,430,000 after buying an additional 5,200 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,993,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,993,000 after acquiring an additional 483,455 shares during the last quarter. jvl associates llc increased its position in AbbVie by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 1,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,448,000 after purchasing an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 24,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,360,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $181.06. The company had a trading volume of 1,785,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,399,687. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.31. The company has a market capitalization of $319.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim raised their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.