AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Acquired by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 11.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,538 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,601 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises 0.5% of First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $8,993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on ABBV shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.39.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Stock Up 3.7 %

NYSE ABBV traded up $7.09 on Wednesday, reaching $196.54. The company had a trading volume of 1,987,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,276,672. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.85 and a 1 year high of $199.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $193.75 and a 200-day moving average of $178.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $347.06 billion, a PE ratio of 58.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.98%.

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.