AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Stock: AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Decreases Stake

Key Points

• AEGON Asset Management UK cut its AbbVie stake by 10.5% in the third quarter, selling 71,585 shares; it retained 609,145 shares valued at about $159.3 million.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: AbbVie has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $297.46, with several firms recently raising their targets.
• AbbVie beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 10.3% year over year, and raised its quarterly dividend from $1.73 to $1.82 per share.

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc reduced its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 10.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 609,145 shares of the company's stock after selling 71,585 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up 1.6% of AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc's holdings in AbbVie were worth $159,346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Burk Holdings LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter worth $30,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 140 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. IMG Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie by 3,060.0% in the 2nd quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 158 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 38.9% during the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 157 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tacita Capital Inc purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 32,710 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $8,177,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 74,430 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,607,500. This trade represents a 30.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ABBV. Wolfe Research upgraded AbbVie from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $310.00 to $346.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their price objective on AbbVie from $309.00 to $342.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $297.46.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $292.87 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.75 and a 1-year high of $302.93. The company has a market capitalization of $517.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.20. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $272.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $239.42.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The company reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.73 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $17.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.32 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 15.67% and a negative return on equity of 450.55%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.86 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 13.99 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.82 per share. This represents a $7.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from AbbVie's previous quarterly dividend of $1.73. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 15th. AbbVie's payout ratio is currently 119.10%.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and markets medicines for a range of serious health conditions. Its research and product portfolio spans immunology, oncology, neuroscience and other therapeutic areas.

Key products include the immunology medicines Skyrizi and Rinvoq, cancer treatments such as Imbruvica and Venclexta, and neuroscience therapies including Botox and Vraylar. Through its Allergan acquisition, AbbVie also offers aesthetics products such as Botox Cosmetic and Juvéderm.

AbbVie was established in 2013 as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois.

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