AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,220,046 shares of the company’s stock after selling 139,210 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises about 0.6% of New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $438,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 61.2% in the third quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 216 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV stock traded down $0.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $203.56. 423,584 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,310,200. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.85 and a twelve month high of $207.32. The company has a market capitalization of $359.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $194.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 226.99% and a net margin of 9.22%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.9 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 $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.