IFS Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 150.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 500 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up approximately 0.1% of IFS Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. IFS Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $89,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Mason & Associates Inc raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 49.9% during the 4th quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 4,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499 shares during the period. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. now owns 10,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after buying an additional 1,297 shares during the period. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC now owns 16,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,901,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Stolper Co raised its position in AbbVie by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Stolper Co now owns 14,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,578,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, ERn Financial LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 58.6% in the fourth quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 1,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.4 %

ABBV stock opened at $173.68 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The company has a market capitalization of $306.91 billion, a PE ratio of 60.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $176.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.54. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 215.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.