Voleon Capital Management LP Takes $11.38 Million Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 64,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,381,000. AbbVie accounts for about 0.8% of Voleon Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% in the fourth 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 during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $9,448,000 after purchasing an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sky Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $7,590,000 after purchasing an additional 3,936 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $194.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.41.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $193.55 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $342.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.65, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $153.58 and a one year high of $218.66. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $196.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 EPS. Analysts anticipate 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 issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.