Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Acquires 8,460 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 28.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 37,842 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,460 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 23,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,480,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 13.0% in the third quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 21,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,159,000 after purchasing an additional 2,446 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its stake in AbbVie by 21.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 26,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,936,000 after purchasing an additional 4,633 shares in the last quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in AbbVie by 5.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 118,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,709,000 after purchasing an additional 6,139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total value of $908,687.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,546.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 52,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 243,944 shares in the company, 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. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 4.6 %

AbbVie stock opened at $159.62 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.96 and a fifty-two week high of $182.89. The stock has a market cap of $282.63 billion, a PE ratio of 58.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.74. 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 (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 162.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 EPS 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 given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target 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. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.43.

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.