Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 10,016 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,053 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,016 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises about 0.7% of Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in AbbVie were worth $24,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Saturna Capital Corp grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% in the third quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,531,000 after acquiring an additional 560,808 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew its stake in AbbVie by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657 shares during the period. PGGM Investments increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 308.1% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,624,000 after purchasing an additional 24,756 shares during the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 57.5% during the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,282,000 after purchasing an additional 6,065 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 8.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,377,000 after buying an additional 5,993 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Argus upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on AbbVie from $231.00 to $224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.89.

AbbVie Trading Down 2.8 %

AbbVie stock opened at $164.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.65. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.05 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The stock has a market cap of $291.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.26, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $192.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.78.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders 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 3.98%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.