Allianz SE Acquires Shares of 95,560 AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Allianz SE purchased a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 95,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,839,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,448,000 after buying an additional 15,550 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,067,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,614,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,685 shares during the last quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,590,000 after buying an additional 3,936 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 25,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,523,000 after buying an additional 3,654 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Daiwa America cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on AbbVie from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim raised their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $205.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $362.85 billion, a PE ratio of 85.47, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $197.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $189.02. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $218.66.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,338,401.36. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total value of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.