Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 136,317 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P trimmed its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 63.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 78,590 shares of the company's stock after selling 136,317 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P's holdings in AbbVie were worth $15,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company's stock valued at $933,698,000 after purchasing an additional 4,471,806 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at about $367,372,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in AbbVie by 314.1% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,315,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $225,549,000 after buying an additional 997,441 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in AbbVie by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,841,189 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,516,358,000 after buying an additional 623,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp grew its stake in AbbVie by 486.1% in the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company's stock valued at $133,531,000 after buying an additional 560,808 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on ABBV shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of AbbVie to $195.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV traded up $1.95 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $183.09. 5,268,798 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,555,972. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $323.55 billion, a PE ratio of 63.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.63. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $188.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.58. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.65 and a 1-year high of $207.32.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during 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 firm's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 paid a $1.64 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.