Disciplined Equity Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 500 AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Disciplined Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exeter Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.9% in the third quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 21,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,237,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 7.9% during the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 13,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,997,000 after acquiring an additional 979 shares in the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 6.0% during the third quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 142,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,204,000 after acquiring an additional 8,060 shares in the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 0.6% during the third quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 19,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,961,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at approximately $205,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV stock traded down $1.71 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $167.83. The stock had a trading volume of 4,074,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,594,750. The firm has a market capitalization of $297.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.96 and a 52 week high of $182.89. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $160.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.16 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 227.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 14,140 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $2,509,001.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,802,413.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ABBV. Truist Financial raised 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. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Guggenheim raised 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. Raymond James increased their price target on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, William Blair upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

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.