Bridgewater Associates LP Reduces Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Bridgewater Associates LP decreased its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 204,572 shares of the company’s stock after selling 83,953 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $40,399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp grew its holdings in AbbVie by 486.1% during the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew its holdings in AbbVie by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,657 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments grew its holdings in AbbVie by 308.1% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,624,000 after acquiring an additional 24,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,169,000 after acquiring an additional 10,768 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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, November 13th. Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV stock opened at $181.16 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.58. The company has a market capitalization of $320.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.90, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.65 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 215.28%.

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.