Berkshire Bank Purchases 1,181 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Berkshire Bank increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 41.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,050 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,181 shares during the period. Berkshire Bank’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $720,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 28,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,982,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 111,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,794,000 after buying an additional 18,865 shares during the period. West Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. West Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 88.5% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. now owns 9,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after acquiring an additional 4,441 shares during the period. Finally, Lighthouse Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,773,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup reduced their target price on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 3.9 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $176.90 on Tuesday. 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 one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.89. The company has a market cap of $312.60 billion, a PE ratio of 61.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

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.