Capital World Investors Purchases 959,242 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Capital World Investors increased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,410,277 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 959,242 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors’ holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,915,990,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,754,908,000 after buying an additional 1,424,237 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,586,948,000 after purchasing an additional 983,888 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599,336 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth $4,459,385,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,215,903,000 after buying an additional 4,466,971 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at $4,429,199.90. This represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451 over the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on ABBV. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley restated a “hold” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $194.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.71.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $172.78 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $198.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $187.82. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $218.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $305.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

AbbVie 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.