Disciplined Equity Management Inc. Buys Shares of 500 AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Disciplined Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 29,922.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,032,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $899,186,000 after acquiring an additional 6,012,281 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $499,955,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,961,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,450,089 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 201.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,143,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $332,242,000 after acquiring an additional 1,433,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,397,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $655,463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,638 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of AbbVie stock traded down $1.71 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $167.83. The company had a trading volume of 4,074,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,594,750. The company’s 50-day moving average is $175.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.62. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.96 and a twelve month high of $182.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $297.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The company had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.60 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

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.