Summit Financial Strategies Inc. Purchases 4,441 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Summit Financial Strategies Inc. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 88.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,457 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,441 shares during the quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in AbbVie in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. Guggenheim raised their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.50.

AbbVie Stock Up 3.9 %

ABBV stock opened at $176.90 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week high of $207.32. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The company has a market cap of $312.60 billion, a PE ratio of 61.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date 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%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.