Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New $169,000 Investment in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 89,097.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,203,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,719,514,000 after purchasing an additional 29,170,366 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at $3,033,348,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 29,922.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,032,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $899,186,000 after purchasing an additional 6,012,281 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 31,571,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,102,311,000 after purchasing an additional 4,785,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 426.5% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,652,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $754,155,000 after purchasing an additional 3,768,579 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of ABBV traded up $1.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $166.41. The company had a trading volume of 5,532,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,932,933. The company has a market capitalization of $294.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $175.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.10. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.96 and a 52 week high of $182.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The company had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.16 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ABBV. Raymond James lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. William Blair raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,233,546.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.