Simplify Asset Management Inc. Buys 24,844 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Simplify Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 104.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,621 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,844 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up approximately 0.2% of Simplify Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Simplify Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $10,575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 180,779,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,306,353,000 after acquiring an additional 3,032,438 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,940,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,494,193,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119,274 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,629,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,179,099,000 after purchasing an additional 4,190,487 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in AbbVie by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,824,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,900,617,000 after purchasing an additional 356,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,865,055,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, March 9th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $234.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.81.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE ABBV opened at $260.88 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $220.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $220.30. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $184.63 and a 52 week high of $261.64. The company has a market capitalization of $460.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.30.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.72 billion. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 576.45% and a net margin of 5.79%.The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a $1.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 340.89%.

AbbVie Profile

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.