Tredje AP fonden Sells 102,945 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Key Points

• Tredje AP fonden cut its AbbVie stake by 13.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 102,945 shares and leaving it with 662,843 shares valued at about $151.5 million.
• AbbVie reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.65 and revenue of $15 billion, both above Wall Street estimates, while revenue rose 12.4% year over year.
• The company recently paid a quarterly dividend of $1.73 per share, equal to an annualized yield of 3.3%, even as analysts maintain a generally positive outlook with a consensus Moderate Buy rating.

Tredje AP fonden lowered its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 662,843 shares of the company's stock after selling 102,945 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises approximately 1.1% of Tredje AP fonden's holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Tredje AP fonden's holdings in AbbVie were worth $151,453,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 457.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,536,901 shares of the company's stock worth $2,439,714,000 after buying an additional 8,646,424 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 180,779,699 shares of the company's stock worth $41,306,353,000 after buying an additional 3,032,438 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 41.8% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 9,337,480 shares of the company's stock worth $1,733,222,000 after buying an additional 2,753,312 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 31.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 7,281,327 shares of the company's stock worth $1,685,918,000 after buying an additional 1,758,657 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 10,508,317 shares of the company's stock worth $2,418,909,000 after buying an additional 1,414,621 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.4%

ABBV opened at $209.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $209.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $219.92. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $180.25 and a 52 week high of $244.81. The company has a market capitalization of $370.27 billion, a PE ratio of 103.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The business had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.46 EPS. The business's revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were given a dividend of $1.73 per share. This represents a $6.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is currently 340.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $294.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $262.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, March 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $253.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP David Ryan Purdue sold 5,230 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.56, for a total transaction of $1,221,518.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $619,868.24. This represents a 66.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 22,381 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $5,147,630.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 38,137 shares in the company, valued at $8,771,510. This represents a 36.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Profile

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie's product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women's health.

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