AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,350 shares of the company’s stock after selling 280 shares during the quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 100.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $176.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $312.70 billion, a PE ratio of 61.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.65 and a 12 month high of $207.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50-day moving average of $189.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.17.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 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 244.01%. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABBV. Leerink Partners upgraded AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday. Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.50.

About AbbVie

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.