State of Michigan Retirement System Reduces Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

State of Michigan Retirement System reduced its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 479,608 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $85,226,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 12,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,392,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. WMG Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. WMG Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 270,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,011,000 after acquiring an additional 21,250 shares during the last quarter. Unified Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $459,000. Finally, Wernau Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth about $264,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on ABBV. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $191.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Daiwa America downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $211.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $185.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $187.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $372.97 billion, a PE ratio of 88.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.58 and a 52 week high of $212.30.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,439 shares of company stock worth $11,377,057 over the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.