419,837 AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 53.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 370,579 shares of the company’s stock after selling 419,837 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $96,940,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Palacios Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% during the third quarter. Palacios Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,672,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Clear Wave Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Wave Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC now owns 2,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $682,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Joseph Group Capital Management raised its position in AbbVie by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 539 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulcrum Asset Management LLP raised its position in AbbVie by 100.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 16,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,318,000 after buying an additional 8,204 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $258.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Argus increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $250.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $244.00 to $258.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of AbbVie from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.46.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 32,710 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $8,177,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 74,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,607,500. This represents a 30.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $292.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $272.71 and a 200 day moving average of $239.42. The stock has a market cap of $517.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.20. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.75 and a twelve month high of $302.93.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 30th. The company reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.09. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 450.55% and a net margin of 15.67%. The business had revenue of $17.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.86 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 13.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 16th. Investors of record on Friday, January 15th will be paid a $1.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 15th. This represents a $7.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.73. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 119.10%.

AbbVie Profile

AbbVie is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and markets medicines for a range of serious health conditions. Its research and product portfolio spans immunology, oncology, neuroscience and other therapeutic areas.

Key products include the immunology medicines Skyrizi and Rinvoq, cancer treatments such as Imbruvica and Venclexta, and neuroscience therapies including Botox and Vraylar. Through its Allergan acquisition, AbbVie also offers aesthetics products such as Botox Cosmetic and Juvéderm.

AbbVie was established in 2013 as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois.