Secure Asset Management LLC Buys 1,337 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Secure Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,541 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Secure Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,229,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $170.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $301.15 billion, a PE ratio of 59.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.73. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ABBV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

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.