Jeppson Wealth Management LLC Increases Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Jeppson Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,945 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,084,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ABBV. EnRich Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 196.4% during the 4th quarter. EnRich Financial Partners LLC now owns 166 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 197.6% during the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 179,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 119,141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded AbbVie to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.29.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. The trade was a 52.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Stock Down 2.6%

ABBV stock opened at $181.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $187.92. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $218.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $321.29 billion, a PE ratio of 77.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.50.

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

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio 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.