Echo45 Advisors LLC Invests $246,000 in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Echo45 Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. GGM Financials LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Dillon & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its position in AbbVie by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,710,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $170.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $301.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.17, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.78%.

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.