VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 196,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,551,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,917,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,439,271,000 after buying an additional 845,787 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,013,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,612,357,000 after buying an additional 189,294 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 31.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,068,820,000 after buying an additional 3,519,187 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 5.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,771,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,675,959,000 after buying an additional 713,148 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in AbbVie by 0.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,413,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,972,050,000 after buying an additional 45,871 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Erste Group Bank lowered AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $250.00 target price on AbbVie and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on AbbVie from $231.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.05.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $229.66 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $217.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $197.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.81 and a 12 month high of $244.81. The company has a market capitalization of $405.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued 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 company had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.65 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 312.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value of $8,407,055.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at $35,178,278.64. The trade was a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total value of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.25% 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.