Apexium Financial LP Purchases 728 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Apexium Financial LP grew its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 22.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,968 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 728 shares during the period. Apexium Financial LP’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in AbbVie in the third quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV stock opened at $170.05 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $175.84 and a 200 day moving average of $184.77. The company has a market cap of $300.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.05, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.78%.

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.