Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys Shares of 370 AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,961,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,450,089 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in AbbVie by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,175,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,796,085,000 after acquiring an additional 914,485 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 89,097.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,203,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,719,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,170,366 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,936,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,269,822,000 after purchasing an additional 491,391 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.8% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,356,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,034,276,000 after purchasing an additional 352,817 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $164.24 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $130.96 and a one year high of $182.89. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $290.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.03. AbbVie had a return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The company had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.11%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,375,512.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other AbbVie news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 13,753 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.51, for a total transaction of $2,441,295.03. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,000,989.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.71, for a total transaction of $9,184,047.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 243,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,375,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Three equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

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.