Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Decreases Stake in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD has reduced its stake in AbbVie Inc. by 29.4%, selling approximately 2.99 million shares to hold about 7.19 million shares valued at $1.51 billion.
• Several analysts have upgraded their ratings on AbbVie, with Raymond James increasing the price target to $236.00 and maintaining an "outperform" rating, while five analysts rated the stock as a Strong Buy.
• AbbVie recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.64 per share, equating to an annualized dividend yield of 3.1%, despite having a high payout ratio of 312.38%.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 29.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,194,814 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,999,412 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.41% of AbbVie worth $1,507,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 22,912 shares of the company's stock worth $4,072,000 after purchasing an additional 3,401 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 72.7% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,279 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,294,000 after buying an additional 3,064 shares in the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,930 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,054,000 after buying an additional 580 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 21,045 shares of the company's stock worth $3,740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,729,365 shares of the company's stock worth $307,308,000 after acquiring an additional 71,582 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $227.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Daiwa America raised shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $214.95.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total transaction of $8,407,055.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the firm'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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE ABBV opened at $208.7240 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $368.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.81 and a 12 month high of $218.66. The company's fifty day moving average price is $192.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $192.68.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 15th. AbbVie's payout ratio is 312.38%.

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.

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