Steele Capital Management Inc. Purchases New Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Steele Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 13,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,055,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $45,000. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 459.7% in the 3rd quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 240.0% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Finally, Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. William Blair upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James upped their price target on AbbVie from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Three investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.31.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded up $1.90 during trading on Monday, reaching $161.52. The company had a trading volume of 6,225,981 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,665,017. The firm has a market capitalization of $286.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.76. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.96 and a fifty-two week high of $182.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $174.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $160.90.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.05. AbbVie had a return on equity of 165.18% and a net margin of 11.02%. The business had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.84%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total value of $3,716,756.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,855,698.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 21,082 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.30, for a total transaction of $3,716,756.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,855,698.90. 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.27, for a total transaction of $24,572,458.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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. 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.

AbbVie Company 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.