Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Has $13.25 Million Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 257.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 74,561 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 53,678 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $13,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $170.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $300.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $175.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released 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. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’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 directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company 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.