Ballast Inc. Buys 1,356 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ballast Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 77.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,110 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,356 shares during the period. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Retirement Income Solutions Inc purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at $204,000. Ergoteles LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 5,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares in the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at $1,150,000. Wsfs Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at $562,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 80.4% in the 1st quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 75,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,242,000 after purchasing an additional 33,661 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. Four 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.43.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $181.97 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $174.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $157.96. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.96 and a 12 month high of $182.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The stock has a market cap of $322.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted 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. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.15 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.41%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total value of $9,184,047.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,949 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $10,539,491.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,895,641.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 383,324 shares of company stock worth $67,780,003 in the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.