AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Purchased by Valmark Advisers Inc.

Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 14.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,763 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,459,385,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 25,841.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,234,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,144,382,000 after buying an additional 10,195,284 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,190,951,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,215,903,000 after buying an additional 4,466,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after buying an additional 3,599,336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on ABBV shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America upped their price objective on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.29.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $183.92 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $185.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $187.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $324.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.26, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.50. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 412.03% and a net margin of 7.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 279.15%.

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.