Candriam S.C.A. Has $73.72 Million Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Candriam S.C.A. lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 414,838 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 27,616 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $73,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in AbbVie by 40.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 38,974 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the third quarter worth $28,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Timothy J. Richmond sold 29,917 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.90, for a total transaction of $6,070,159.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,985,223.60. This represents a 40.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total value of $3,853,399.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,401.36. This represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,439 shares of company stock valued at $11,377,057 in the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ABBV. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of AbbVie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (up previously from $218.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.45.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $211.61 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.58 and a twelve month high of $215.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $186.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $187.31. The company has a market cap of $373.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share 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 company posted $2.79 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 273.33%.

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.