Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Has $13.61 Million Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC lessened its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 22.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 68,935 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,266 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises about 1.4% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $13,613,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Saturna Capital Corp raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% in the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after purchasing an additional 560,808 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank raised its holdings in AbbVie by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,657 shares during the period. PGGM Investments raised its holdings in AbbVie by 308.1% in the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,624,000 after acquiring an additional 24,756 shares during the period. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 57.5% during the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,282,000 after acquiring an additional 6,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 8.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,377,000 after acquiring an additional 5,993 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $164.99 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $192.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.05 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 227.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.89.

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.