Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 168,387 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,775 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $26,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horrell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $45,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock traded up $1.70 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $164.24. 4,792,165 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,653,147. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.96 and a 1 year 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $176.01 and a 200-day moving average of $159.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $290.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 162.28% and a net margin of 8.95%. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ABBV shares. William Blair raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Truist Financial boosted 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. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 519,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,020,679.73. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 5,144 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.65, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 138,616 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total value of $24,572,458.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,020,679.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 383,324 shares of company stock valued at $67,780,003 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.