Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Has $37.64 Million Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has reduced its stake in AbbVie Inc. by 18.4%, now holding 179,628 shares worth approximately $37.64 million after selling 40,486 shares in Q1.
• Analysts have varying ratings for AbbVie, with the average price target being $211.29 and a mix of ratings that include multiple overweight and buy recommendations.
• AbbVie announced a quarterly dividend of $1.64 per share, indicating an annualized yield of 3.5%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 279.15%.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 18.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 179,628 shares of the company's stock after selling 40,486 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in AbbVie were worth $37,636,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. EnRich Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 196.4% in the fourth quarter. EnRich Financial Partners LLC now owns 166 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its holdings in AbbVie by 197.6% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 179,440 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 119,141 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY acquired a new position in AbbVie in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV traded up $6.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $195.17. 8,081,230 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,440,562. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.81 and a 1-year high of $218.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $344.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.94, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.50. The company's 50-day moving average price is $188.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $190.17.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 518.10% and a net margin of 6.45%. AbbVie's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is 279.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim upped their price target on AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $194.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on AbbVie from $227.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $212.81.

AbbVie Company 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.