AM Investment Strategies LLC Increases Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

AM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 19.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,100 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the period. AM Investment Strategies LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 23,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,480,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after buying an additional 2,446 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 26,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,936,000 after buying an additional 4,633 shares during the last quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in AbbVie by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 118,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,709,000 after buying an additional 6,139 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $167.28. 5,502,087 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,594,213. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $174.94 and a 200-day moving average of $160.67. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.96 and a 52 week high of $182.89. The stock has a market cap of $296.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.27, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 227.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares in the company, valued at $10,895,641.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About AbbVie

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.