AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Purchased by Conning Inc.

Conning Inc. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 191,023 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,690 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for 1.2% of Conning Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Conning Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $35,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,917,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,439,271,000 after purchasing an additional 845,787 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in AbbVie by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,013,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,612,357,000 after purchasing an additional 189,294 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in AbbVie by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,068,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,187 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,771,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,675,959,000 after purchasing an additional 713,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in AbbVie by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,413,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,972,050,000 after purchasing an additional 45,871 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $170.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.90.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $230.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $407.86 billion, a PE ratio of 109.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.51. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.81 and a 1 year high of $244.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $214.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.24 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.65 earnings per share. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 312.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total transaction of $8,407,055.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,178,278.64. The trade was a 19.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total transaction of $2,639,190.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.