Criteria Caixa S.A.U. Purchases New Shares in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Criteria Caixa S.A.U. bought a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 542,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $96,488,000. AbbVie makes up about 13.8% of Criteria Caixa S.A.U.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,367,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,664,489,000 after buying an additional 108,993 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 35.8% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,448,000 after purchasing an additional 15,550 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sky Investment Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,590,000 after buying an additional 3,936 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $12,359,426.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,183,398.72. The trade was a 52.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on ABBV shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $194.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.19.

AbbVie Stock Up 3.1 %

ABBV opened at $185.96 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $218.66. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $196.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The company has a market cap of $328.96 billion, a PE ratio of 77.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.05). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 279.15%.

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.