Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $15.12 Million Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,095 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,162 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $15,121,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after acquiring an additional 4,471,806 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in AbbVie by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,088,000 after purchasing an additional 781,858 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,009,542,000 after buying an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp lifted its stake in AbbVie by 486.1% in the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after buying an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.4 %

ABBV stock opened at $170.05 on Monday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $207.32. The stock has a market cap of $300.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $175.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.77. 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 (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie 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 $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on ABBV. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wolfe Research began coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Five equities research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

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.