Hartford Investment Management Co. Reduces Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Hartford Investment Management Co. lowered its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 111,167 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,952 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises 0.7% of Hartford Investment Management Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $21,953,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after buying an additional 3,110,601 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in AbbVie by 3.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,698,847,000 after acquiring an additional 992,496 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after acquiring an additional 134,239 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,984,490,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,434 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ABBV. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen upped their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.47.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.1 %

AbbVie stock traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $188.56. The stock had a trading volume of 264,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,267,492. The stock has a market cap of $332.97 billion, a PE ratio of 56.02, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.85 and a 52 week high of $199.95.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.91 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.98%.

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.