AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Sold by Plato Investment Management Ltd

Key Points

• Plato Investment Management Ltd has reduced its holdings in AbbVie Inc. by 21% during the first quarter, selling 13,721 shares and leaving it with 51,744 shares valued at approximately $10.96 million.
• Other institutional investors have made significant changes to their AbbVie positions, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its stake by over 25,000%, now holding more than 10 million shares worth approximately $2.14 billion.
• A quarterly dividend of $1.64 per share has been announced by AbbVie, representing an annualized payout of $6.56 and a yield of 3.1%, to be paid on November 14th.

Plato Investment Management Ltd decreased its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 21.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,744 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,721 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for approximately 0.9% of Plato Investment Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Plato Investment Management Ltd's holdings in AbbVie were worth $10,959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 22,912 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,072,000 after purchasing an additional 3,401 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 72.7% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,279 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,064 shares during the last quarter. NDVR Inc. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. NDVR Inc. now owns 2,460 shares of the company's stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Mubadala Investment Co PJSC bought a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,516,000. Finally, Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,078,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ABBV. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $231.00 price objective for the company. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $214.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $214.95.

AbbVie Stock Up 4.0%

AbbVie stock traded up $8.45 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $220.09. 7,647,202 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,197,288. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.81 and a 12 month high of $221.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $199.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.48. The company has a market cap of $388.80 billion, a PE ratio of 104.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.53.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%.The business had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is presently 312.38%.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value of $8,407,055.40. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the business's 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.