Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Sells 1,250 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. reduced its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 22.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,250 shares during the quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $829,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. FCG Investment Co bought a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter worth $1,413,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the first quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 65.6% during the first quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 97,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,726,000 after purchasing an additional 38,562 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.0% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 308.1% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,624,000 after purchasing an additional 24,756 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of AbbVie stock traded up $2.05 on Monday, reaching $189.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 575,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,265,257. The company has a market capitalization of $335.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.35, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.85 and a 52-week high of $199.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $194.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.40. 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 (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.39.

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.