Mizuho Securities USA LLC Reduces Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC reduced its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 114,538 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,611 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $22,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after buying an additional 3,110,601 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in AbbVie by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,698,847,000 after acquiring an additional 992,496 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after acquiring an additional 134,239 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 12.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,984,490,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in AbbVie by 13.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,744,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,956,518,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,201 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $164.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $291.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.26, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.05 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $192.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $180.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on ABBV. Citigroup cut their target price on AbbVie from $226.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.89.

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.