Clarendon Private LLC Buys New Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Clarendon Private LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV opened at $170.05 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $300.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s fifty day moving average is $175.84 and its 200-day moving average is $184.77. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.58 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABBV. Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.50.

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.