KBC Group NV Boosts Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,146,550 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 54,501 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises 0.6% of KBC Group NV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. KBC Group NV owned about 0.06% of AbbVie worth $203,742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,614,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% in the third 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 last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 6.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 582,953 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in AbbVie by 4.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after purchasing an additional 373,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,698,000 after buying an additional 4,471,806 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $170.05 on Monday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.58 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $175.84 and a 200 day moving average of $184.77. The stock has a market cap of $300.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Leerink Partners raised AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.50.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total transaction of $310,032.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.