Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Grows Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 22.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,868,905 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 529,707 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $492,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $49,497,875.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $193.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $341.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.85 and a 12-month high of $199.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $188.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors 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 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $191.64.

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.