DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Sells 6,122,655 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main trimmed its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 81.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,370,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,122,655 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $243,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Crestline Management LP raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 438.4% in the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 35,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,275,000 after purchasing an additional 28,753 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in AbbVie by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,367,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,664,489,000 after acquiring an additional 108,993 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in AbbVie by 35.8% during the 4th 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 last quarter. AXA S.A. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 971,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,705,000 after acquiring an additional 125,568 shares during the period. Finally, Sky Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 10.1% in 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America upped their target price 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, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.41.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.4 %

ABBV opened at $187.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $332.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.28, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $195.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $187.27. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $218.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 279.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,985,223.60. This trade represents a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Profile

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.