AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Sold by Griffin Asset Management Inc.

Griffin Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 78,725 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,204 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up approximately 1.9% of Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $17,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in AbbVie by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 180,779,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,306,353,000 after buying an additional 3,032,438 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in AbbVie by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,940,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,494,193,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119,274 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,629,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,179,099,000 after acquiring an additional 4,190,487 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in AbbVie by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,824,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,900,617,000 after acquiring an additional 356,394 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth $5,865,055,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $249.98 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $224.54 and its 200-day moving average is $221.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $441.67 billion, a PE ratio of 123.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.30. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $184.63 and a 12-month high of $261.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.72 billion. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 576.45% and a net margin of 5.79%.AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.25 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be issued a $1.73 dividend. This represents a $6.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 340.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ABBV shares. DZ Bank raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on AbbVie from $270.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on AbbVie from $265.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $258.19.

Key Headlines Impacting AbbVie

Here are the key news stories impacting AbbVie this week:

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target on AbbVie to $280 from $260 and kept an overweight rating, signaling confidence in further upside. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: The European Commission approved AbbVie’s Tepkinly-based combination for relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma, expanding the company’s oncology footprint and potentially supporting future sales growth. Pharmaceutical Technology
• Positive Sentiment: AbbVie also completed a first-in-human ABBV-277 trial, and early safety data could matter for its pipeline if the program continues to show promise. TipRanks
• Neutral Sentiment: West Pharmaceutical completed the SmartDose 3.5mL sale to AbbVie, a transaction that helps West refocus on its core business but is not likely to be a major direct driver for AbbVie’s stock. Zacks
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary on cystic fibrosis drug development highlighted AbbVie’s presence in a growing orphan-drug category, but the article was broad industry context rather than a company-specific catalyst. Yahoo Finance
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the positive headlines, AbbVie’s shares ended the session lower, suggesting investors may be taking profits or waiting for the upcoming earnings report and clearer pipeline results. Zacks

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.