Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 18.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,936 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,657 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 11.2% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 484,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,064,000 after acquiring an additional 48,722 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% in the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 11,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,952,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.7% in the second quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 15,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,574,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 32.8% in the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 47,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,062,000 after acquiring an additional 11,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.0% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,309,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,637,000 after acquiring an additional 26,088 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABBV. Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.3 %

AbbVie stock opened at $171.49 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $175.78 and its 200-day moving average is $184.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The company has a market cap of $303.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.55, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.28%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.