AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Stock Position Lowered by Criterion Capital Advisors LLC

Criterion Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,912 shares of the company’s stock after selling 650 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises about 1.9% of Criterion Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,898,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,747,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,961,001,000 after buying an additional 1,450,089 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 44,988,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,971,796,000 after buying an additional 2,542,463 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,175,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,796,085,000 after purchasing an additional 914,485 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,451,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,774,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,702,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,229,888,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ABBV. Guggenheim boosted their target price on AbbVie from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. HSBC upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.64.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded up $2.53 on Friday, hitting $171.52. 24,463,599 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,432,583. The company has a market cap of $302.88 billion, a PE ratio of 50.90, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.44. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.13 and a 52 week high of $182.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $12.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 179.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

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.