Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Has $3.48 Million Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. raised its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 12.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,557 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,164 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,475,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in AbbVie by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABBV. Guggenheim upped their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Daiwa America downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $211.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The company has a market capitalization of $373.44 billion, a PE ratio of 88.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $218.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $193.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025. 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.