AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan

NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan lessened its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 21.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,964 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the quarter. NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,732,000 after purchasing an additional 511,470 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,009,542,000 after purchasing an additional 582,953 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,842,642,000 after purchasing an additional 373,802 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,119,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $813,467,000 after purchasing an additional 38,854 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.1 %

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

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued 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 return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Daiwa America cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partners raised shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research began coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,202,751.92. This trade represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,985,223.60. The trade was 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 valued at $11,377,057 in the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is currently 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.