Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 6,445 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 26.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 31,231 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,445 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,754,908,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424,237 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in AbbVie by 1.6% during 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. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,586,948,000 after buying an additional 983,888 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,875,401,000 after buying an additional 3,599,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,459,385,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,183,398.72. This represents a 52.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $204.93 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $218.66. The stock has a market cap of $362.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $199.66 and a 200 day moving average of $189.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share 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 previous year, the business posted $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.45.

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.