AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Bought by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,442 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,522 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 7.9% in the first quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,035,000 after buying an additional 1,223 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.6% in the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 138,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,159,000 after buying an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.0% in the first quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 64,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,683,000 after buying an additional 3,628 shares during the last quarter. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% in the first quarter. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,537,000 after buying an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.4% in the first quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ABBV. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.2 %

ABBV stock opened at $203.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.85 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $179.09. The stock has a market cap of $360.10 billion, a PE ratio of 70.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.9 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

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.