AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by James Investment Research Inc.

James Investment Research Inc. cut its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,411 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,099 shares during the period. James Investment Research Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,754,908,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424,237 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,586,948,000 after buying an additional 983,888 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in AbbVie by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,038,898,000 after buying an additional 778,126 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,459,385,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in AbbVie by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,824,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,878,236,000 after buying an additional 2,299,645 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ABBV. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AbbVie to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $194.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.29.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV stock opened at $186.56 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.19. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.81 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66. The company has a market capitalization of $329.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.39, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.48.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly 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. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 412.03%. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 279.15%.

AbbVie Company 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.