Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. Grows Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. lifted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,137 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,014 shares during the period. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $4,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $190.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $336.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.45, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $177.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.60. 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 announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 257.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.35.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.