Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Has $13.61 Million Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 22.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 68,935 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,266 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up about 1.4% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $13,613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. GGM Financials LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 0.7% in the third quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 6,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 0.8% in the second quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Financial Corp raised its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the third quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.89.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $164.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.29, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $192.04 and a 200 day moving average of $180.91. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.05 and a 52 week high of $207.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 227.78%.

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.