AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Position Boosted by Red Spruce Capital LLC

Red Spruce Capital LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 52,825 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up about 4.2% of Red Spruce Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Red Spruce Capital LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $9,387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in AbbVie by 100.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $169.19 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.84. The stock has a market cap of $298.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ABBV. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa America downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.