KBC Group NV Has $215.66 Million Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

KBC Group NV grew its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 59.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,092,049 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 409,214 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises approximately 0.7% of KBC Group NV’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. KBC Group NV’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $215,659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in AbbVie by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.83.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $170.46 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $193.61 and a 200-day moving average of $180.91. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $136.30 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The stock has a market cap of $301.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

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.