Silver Coast Investments LLC Reduces Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Silver Coast Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,206 shares of the company’s stock after selling 162 shares during the period. Silver Coast Investments LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after acquiring an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,698,847,000 after purchasing an additional 992,496 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after buying an additional 134,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 12.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,984,490,000 after buying an additional 1,240,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report 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 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.00.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $204.00. 730,555 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,311,648. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $360.33 billion, a PE ratio of 70.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.85 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $194.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $179.09.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

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.