Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 54,280 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 901,128 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,280 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up approximately 0.7% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.05% of AbbVie worth $177,955,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after buying an additional 4,471,806 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in AbbVie by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 59.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,096,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,088,000 after purchasing an additional 781,858 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in AbbVie by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,841,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,516,358,000 after purchasing an additional 623,569 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after buying an additional 582,953 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $173.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The firm has a market cap of $306.42 billion, a PE ratio of 60.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $185.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.68. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $151.29 and a 12-month high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 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 paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 215.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Argus upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.65.

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.