Erste Asset Management GmbH Increases Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Erste Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 71.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 239,267 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 99,318 shares during the quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $49,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vertex Planning Partners LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC now owns 16,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,356,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Heritage Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.0% in the first quarter. Heritage Financial Services LLC now owns 3,683 shares of the company’s stock valued at $772,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. now owns 13,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,789,000 after purchasing an additional 2,970 shares during the period. ZEGA Investments LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 35.5% during the 1st quarter. ZEGA Investments LLC now owns 15,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,318,000 after purchasing an additional 4,152 shares during the period. Finally, Credit Agricole S A increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 31.5% in the first quarter. Credit Agricole S A now owns 674,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,393,000 after acquiring an additional 161,489 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $231.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.95.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $205.9930 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $363.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.09, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.50. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.81 and a 52 week high of $218.66. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $192.56.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 312.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total transaction of $8,407,055.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie 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.