Victory Capital Management Inc. Purchases 241,237 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,954,892 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 241,237 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $302,950,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its position in AbbVie by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 21,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,254,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its stake in AbbVie by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 17,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,680,000 after purchasing an additional 3,197 shares during the period. Innova Wealth Partners increased its stake in AbbVie by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the period. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $203,000. Finally, Moreno Evelyn V increased its stake in AbbVie by 47.1% in the 3rd quarter. Moreno Evelyn V now owns 4,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim lifted their price target on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. William Blair raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Barclays decreased their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.31.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.4 %

ABBV stock traded up $0.69 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $163.33. The stock had a trading volume of 1,757,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,613,115. The firm has a market cap of $289.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50-day moving average of $174.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $161.10. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $182.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 165.18% and a net margin of 11.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,855,698.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,903 shares in the company, valued at $9,855,698.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $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.