Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP Buys Shares of 120,000 AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 120,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,144,000. AbbVie makes up about 1.8% of Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 38,974 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $224.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $202.79 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $218.66. The company has a market capitalization of $357.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The business’s 50 day moving average is $196.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.96.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a net margin of 7.59% and a return on equity of 296.28%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total value of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,639 shares of company stock worth $11,067,025. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.