Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Buys 75 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,842 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new stake in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,777,000. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,147,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $424,014,000 after purchasing an additional 6,810 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at about $1,186,000. Finally, Wallington Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $277,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.8 %

ABBV opened at $200.98 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $180.12 and a 200 day moving average of $186.19. The firm has a market cap of $354.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 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 earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.32 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABBV. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of 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. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’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 owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.