Stifel Financial Corp Sells 28,036 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Stifel Financial Corp decreased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,501,666 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,036 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $494,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 134,239 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,630,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,691,732,000 after acquiring an additional 511,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 4.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,330,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,842,642,000 after acquiring an additional 373,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 7.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,841,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,516,358,000 after buying an additional 623,569 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $176.55 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $187.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $311.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced 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 return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 227.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ABBV. TD Cowen increased their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.50.

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.