Public Sector Pension Investment Board Raises Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 13.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 918,647 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 108,673 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for about 0.8% of Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned about 0.05% of AbbVie worth $192,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC now owns 1,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.9% in the first quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 2,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,711 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castle Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 3.4% in the first quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $214.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their price target on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.43.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $198.10 on Monday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.81 and a 1 year high of $218.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business’s fifty day moving average is $189.65 and its 200-day moving average is $191.35. The stock has a market cap of $349.96 billion, a PE ratio of 94.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.50.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%. The firm had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 312.38%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total transaction of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.08% 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.