L.K. Benson & Company P.C. Buys Shares of 1,952 AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

L.K. Benson & Company P.C. purchased a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,147,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,014,000 after acquiring an additional 6,810 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 20.3% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. United Bank bought a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in AbbVie by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 332,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,612,000 after buying an additional 63,474 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE ABBV opened at $213.80 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $377.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ABBV. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa America cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America upped their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment 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. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

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.