Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC Takes $296,000 Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 23,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,480,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Torray Investment Partners LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 13.0% during the third quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 2,446 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 21.3% during the third quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 26,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,936,000 after acquiring an additional 4,633 shares during the period. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in AbbVie by 5.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 118,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,709,000 after acquiring an additional 6,139 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 over the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ABBV. William Blair raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.43.

AbbVie Stock Down 4.6 %

NYSE ABBV traded down $7.67 on Friday, hitting $159.62. 10,721,740 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,004,945. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $174.59 and a 200 day moving average of $160.74. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.96 and a twelve month high of $182.89. The company has a market capitalization of $282.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.46 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

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.