Russell Investments Group Ltd. Increases Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,056,448 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 87,370 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.06% of AbbVie worth $163,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 39.5% during the third quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 459.7% in the third quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 347 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 240.0% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 340 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $2,509,001.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,802,413.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded down $7.67 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $159.62. The company had a trading volume of 10,721,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,004,945. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.96 and a twelve month high of $182.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $282.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $160.74.

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 business had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on ABBV. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James lifted their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.43.

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.