Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Takes Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 12,957 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,302,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,367,162 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,664,489,000 after buying an additional 108,993 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 35.8% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company's stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 971,893 shares of the company's stock worth $172,705,000 after buying an additional 125,568 shares during the period. Sky Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company's stock worth $7,590,000 after purchasing an additional 3,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 25,822 shares of the company's stock worth $4,523,000 after buying an additional 3,654 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on ABBV shares. Citigroup raised their target price on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of AbbVie from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.41.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV stock traded up $0.72 on Wednesday, hitting $187.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,770,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,094,269. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $218.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $195.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $187.27. The stock has a market cap of $332.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. The company's revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. Equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 279.15%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. This represents a 52.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.