Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV Lowers Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV trimmed its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,604 shares of the company’s stock after selling 342 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises about 1.6% of Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. Palisade Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 65.6% during the first quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 97,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,726,000 after buying an additional 38,562 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,657 shares during the period. PGGM Investments grew its position in AbbVie by 308.1% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,624,000 after purchasing an additional 24,756 shares during the period. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,349,000. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its position in AbbVie by 29.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 27,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,333,000 after purchasing an additional 6,161 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, August 5th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.00.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $203.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,493,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,329,237. The company has a market cap of $359.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.68, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $194.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.38. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.85 and a 1-year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.