Verity & Verity LLC Has $30.54 Million Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Verity & Verity LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 171,852 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,544 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up approximately 2.8% of Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $30,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38,974 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ABBV. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim increased their price target on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $171.49 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $175.78 and a 200-day moving average of $184.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $303.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business 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 $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.28%.

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.