Voleon Capital Management LP Purchases New Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 64,045 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,381,000. AbbVie comprises 0.8% of Voleon Capital Management LP's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,367,162 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,664,489,000 after buying an additional 108,993 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company's stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company's stock worth $9,448,000 after acquiring an additional 15,550 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company's stock worth $7,011,000 after acquiring an additional 3,439 shares during the period. Finally, Sky Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company's stock worth $7,590,000 after acquiring an additional 3,936 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock traded down $1.71 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $193.40. 5,817,133 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,078,983. The firm has a market capitalization of $342.11 billion, a PE ratio of 80.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $187.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. AbbVie's revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is currently 279.15%.

About AbbVie

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.