IFM Investors Pty Ltd Buys 3,741 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 334,604 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,741 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for about 0.8% of IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $70,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 25,841.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,234,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,144,382,000 after purchasing an additional 10,195,284 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $1,819,154,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 31.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,068,820,000 after buying an additional 3,519,187 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,058,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,142,832,000 after buying an additional 1,882,780 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 147.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,752,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,800,000 after buying an additional 1,641,091 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Daiwa America raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $214.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.95.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $210.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $371.79 billion, a PE ratio of 100.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.53. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.81 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $198.64 and a 200-day moving average of $194.25.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 312.38%.

Insider Activity

In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.