Vest Financial LLC Buys 22,502 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 308,782 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,502 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $54,871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.2 %

AbbVie stock opened at $190.67 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The company has a market capitalization of $336.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 257.91% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup upped their target price on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. 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, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.35.

AbbVie 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.