Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 31,840 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Fifth Third Bancorp lessened its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,119,554 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,840 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for approximately 0.9% of Fifth Third Bancorp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $554,454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the third quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.1% in the third quarter. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 22.8% in the third quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.6% in the third quarter. Foundry Financial Group Inc. now owns 839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ABBV shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded AbbVie from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Argus raised their target price on AbbVie from $250.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on AbbVie from $290.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on AbbVie from $275.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.46.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:ABBV opened at $294.93 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.75 and a 52 week high of $302.93. The company has a market capitalization of $521.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $274.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $240.18.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The company reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $17.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.32 billion. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 450.55% and a net margin of 15.67%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 13.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

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

About AbbVie

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.