38,508 Shares in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Purchased by Weiss Asset Management LP

Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV – Get Rating) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 38,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,168,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 1.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,022,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,939,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,442,663 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in AbbVie by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 77,486,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,399,439,000 after acquiring an additional 366,695 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in AbbVie by 4.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,530,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,919,162,000 after acquiring an additional 476,257 shares during the period. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 9.3% in the second quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 11,011,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,686,504,000 after acquiring an additional 938,091 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 2.0% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,904,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,443,588,000 after acquiring an additional 176,026 shares during the period. 67.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 15,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.08, for a total transaction of $2,440,401.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $123,841.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 53,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total transaction of $8,089,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 60,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,280,095.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Scott T. Reents sold 15,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.08, for a total transaction of $2,440,401.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $123,841.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 159,746 shares of company stock worth $24,267,450 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $154.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $272.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.62. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $134.09 and a 1 year high of $175.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $151.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.54 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 20.39% and a return on equity of 154.52%. The company had revenue of $15.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.31 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 13th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. SVB Securities upgraded AbbVie from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Friday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on AbbVie from $169.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $172.00 price objective for the company. Atlantic Securities reduced their price objective on AbbVie from $157.00 to $154.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on AbbVie from $182.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $161.12.

About AbbVie

(Get Rating)

AbbVie, Inc is a research-based biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development and sale of pharmaceutical products. It focuses on treating conditions such as chronic autoimmune diseases in rheumatology, gastroenterology, and dermatology, oncology, including blood cancers, virology, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s, metabolic, comprising thyroid disease and complications associated with cystic fibrosis, pain associated with endometriosis, and other serious health conditions.