Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $1.61 Billion Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,048,208 shares of the company’s stock after selling 282,571 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.51% of AbbVie worth $1,607,867,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in AbbVie by 12.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,487,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,204,000 after purchasing an additional 273,078 shares during the period. United Bank bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth about $217,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at about $152,000. Finally, Concentric Capital Strategies LP boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 48.8% in the 3rd quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP now owns 8,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,657,000 after purchasing an additional 2,753 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,639 shares of company stock valued at $11,067,025 in the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $206.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $364.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.87, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $218.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $198.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $189.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 273.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Daiwa America lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

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.