Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Trims Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 815,840 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,777 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for approximately 0.7% of Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in AbbVie were worth $161,112,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 55,401 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,502,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc lifted its position in AbbVie by 58.8% in the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 364,822 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,749,000 after acquiring an additional 135,111 shares in the last quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in AbbVie by 87.2% in the 2nd quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 21,499 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,688,000 after acquiring an additional 10,017 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its position in AbbVie by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 148,078 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,398,000 after acquiring an additional 8,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 2,154 shares of the company's stock valued at $369,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Argus upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Daiwa America downgraded shares of AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $202.38.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE ABBV traded up $0.84 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $177.03. The stock had a trading volume of 2,554,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,516,693. The business's 50 day moving average is $186.76 and its 200-day moving average is $182.54. The company has a market cap of $312.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.66, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.16 and a 52 week high of $207.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

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.