X Square Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

X Square Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,852 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 142 shares during the quarter. X Square Capital LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 20.3% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 12.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,487,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,204,000 after purchasing an additional 273,078 shares during the last quarter. United Bank purchased a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $217,000. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,436,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $152,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $202.79 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $196.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.96. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week high of $218.66. The stock has a market cap of $357.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.33%.

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.