Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Grows Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,694 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,519 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $10,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 39.5% in the third quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter worth about $45,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 240.0% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 340 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Barclays lowered their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report 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. Finally, 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 report on Monday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.31.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of AbbVie stock traded down $1.06 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $162.73. 5,834,137 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,663,803. The firm has a market cap of $288.14 billion, a PE ratio of 48.29, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.96 and a 1 year high of $182.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $172.81 and its 200 day moving average is $161.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. 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 the consensus estimate of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 165.18% and a net margin of 11.02%. AbbVie’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.29 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.98%.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction of $908,687.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. 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.