MRA Advisory Group Boosts Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

MRA Advisory Group lifted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,147 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. MRA Advisory Group’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 100.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter valued at about $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. TD Cowen increased their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Five investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $175.46 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $177.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $310.06 billion, a PE ratio of 60.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $1.64 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.78%.

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.