M&G Plc Sells 3,983 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

M&G Plc cut its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 360,839 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,983 shares during the period. M&G Plc’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $71,085,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 61.2% during the 3rd quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE ABBV opened at $201.20 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $355.39 billion, a PE ratio of 69.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $194.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.25. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.85 and a 52 week high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. AbbVie’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped 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. Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.72.

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.