Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $15.12 Million Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 85,095 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,162 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $15,121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 4.5% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 25,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,421,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares in the last quarter. Annandale Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 686.6% in the 2nd quarter. Annandale Capital LLC now owns 29,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,992,000 after purchasing an additional 25,406 shares during the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 29.5% during the 2nd quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 89.5% during the 2nd quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,588,000 after buying an additional 4,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silver Lake Advisory LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 2.6% in the second quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC now owns 57,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,850,000 after acquiring an additional 1,456 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a 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 report on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays increased their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Finally, Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.4 %

ABBV opened at $170.05 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $300.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $175.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $207.32.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.