AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by Gold Investment Management Ltd.

Gold Investment Management Ltd. lessened its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 27.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,090 shares during the quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after buying an additional 4,471,806 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in AbbVie by 249.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,357,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120,310 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 6.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in AbbVie by 156.0% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $632,619,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,997 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.2 %

ABBV traded up $0.44 on Friday, reaching $200.95. 180,698 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,301,241. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.85 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $354.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.60, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $194.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.25.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 226.99% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. William Blair raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.72.

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.