AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Acquired by Woodline Partners LP

Key Points

• Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. by 3.8%, owning a total of 628,094 shares valued at approximately $131.6 million.
• Hedge fund activities include GAMMA Investing LLC boosting its holdings by 25,841.6% to over 10 million shares, while UBS Asset Management increased its position by 18.5%.
• AbbVie is set to pay a quarterly dividend of $1.64 on November 14th, with a current dividend yield of 3.1%.

Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 628,094 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 23,036 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up about 0.9% of Woodline Partners LP's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Woodline Partners LP's holdings in AbbVie were worth $131,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 25,841.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,234,737 shares of the company's stock worth $2,144,382,000 after acquiring an additional 10,195,284 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $1,819,154,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,519,187 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,058,706 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,142,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 147.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,752,953 shares of the company's stock worth $576,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641,091 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related 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 approximately $35,178,278.64. The trade was a 19.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on ABBV shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Daiwa America raised AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets raised AbbVie from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $214.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $214.95.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $209.97 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. The firm has a market cap of $370.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.99, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50 day moving average of $198.22 and a 200-day moving average of $194.14. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.81 and a 12-month high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The firm had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.65 EPS. AbbVie's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 312.38%.

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.

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