Aviva PLC Increases Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Aviva PLC boosted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 953,889 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,294 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC owned about 0.05% of AbbVie worth $169,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,159,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 9,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Doliver Advisors LP lifted its position in AbbVie by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 5,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $938,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Erste Group Bank upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Stock Down 7.5 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $186.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $330.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The business has a 50-day moving average of $200.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $189.24. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $218.66.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 273.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

About AbbVie

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.