Raymond James & Associates Purchases 26,954 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,533,099 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,954 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up about 0.5% of Raymond James & Associates’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.26% of AbbVie worth $895,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen raised their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.47.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.2 %

ABBV stock traded up $0.29 on Friday, hitting $188.86. 5,607,902 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,301,312. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.85 and a 12-month high of $199.95. The stock has a market cap of $333.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $194.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.76.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.98%.

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.