MetLife Investment Management LLC Acquires 7,305 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 501,566 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,305 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises about 0.5% of MetLife Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $89,128,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Norinchukin Bank The grew its stake in AbbVie by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 79,816 shares of the company's stock worth $14,183,000 after purchasing an additional 6,893 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 150.4% in the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 472,704 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,000,000 after acquiring an additional 283,908 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Inc. CA lifted its stake in AbbVie by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 410,892 shares of the company's stock worth $73,016,000 after acquiring an additional 15,993 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,038,898,000 after purchasing an additional 778,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,410,277 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,915,990,000 after purchasing an additional 959,242 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,985,223.60. The trade was a 40.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock valued at $23,426,451 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America increased their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of AbbVie to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $214.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $210.71.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $172.78 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $198.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.82. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.58 and a 12-month high of $218.66. 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 company has a market capitalization of $305.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.99, a PEG 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.79 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie's payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

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.

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