Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Sells 157,560 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reduced its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,824,282 shares of the company's stock after selling 157,560 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.16% of AbbVie worth $501,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in AbbVie by 35.8% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,047 shares of the company's stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company's stock worth $9,448,000 after purchasing an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company's stock worth $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares in the last quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 42,715 shares of the company's stock worth $7,590,000 after buying an additional 3,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 25,822 shares of the company's stock worth $4,523,000 after acquiring an additional 3,654 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ABBV. Erste Group Bank raised shares of AbbVie to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $211.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $210.71.

AbbVie Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of ABBV traded down $2.46 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $170.53. 2,023,192 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,989,869. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.58 and a 12 month high of $218.66. The company's fifty day moving average price is $198.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $187.71. The company has a market capitalization of $301.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share 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 in the prior year, the business earned $2.79 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.33%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,429,199.90. The trade was a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451 over the last 90 days. Corporate 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.