Criteria Caixa S.A.U. Reduces Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Criteria Caixa S.A.U. cut its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 8.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 495,162 shares of the company’s stock after selling 47,822 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for approximately 10.1% of Criteria Caixa S.A.U.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Criteria Caixa S.A.U.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $91,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Dohj LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 41.8% during the second quarter. Dohj LLC now owns 4,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $802,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.8% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 7,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Narus Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 25.3% during the first quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department increased its stake in AbbVie by 3.3% during the second quarter. BankPlus Trust Department now owns 27,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,033,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 6.3% during the first quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 46,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,817,000 after acquiring an additional 2,792 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

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

AbbVie Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of ABBV opened at $230.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $407.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.94, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $163.81 and a one year high of $244.81. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.76.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%.The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. HSBC set a $225.00 price objective on AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.90.

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.