Bank Hapoalim BM Reduces Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Bank Hapoalim BM lowered its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,445 shares of the company’s stock after selling 509 shares during the period. Bank Hapoalim BM’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,840,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,698,000 after purchasing an additional 4,471,806 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in AbbVie by 249.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,357,000 after buying an additional 3,120,310 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,758,789,000 after buying an additional 3,110,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 156.0% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $632,619,000 after buying an additional 2,116,997 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $205.44 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.85 and a twelve month high of $207.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $193.85 and its 200 day moving average is $178.91. The company has a market cap of $362.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 183.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABBV. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on AbbVie from $170.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.11.

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.