AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Acquired by Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,492 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,847 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after acquiring an additional 4,471,806 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 314.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,315,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,549,000 after acquiring an additional 997,441 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 7.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,841,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,516,358,000 after acquiring an additional 623,569 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 6.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,175,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,542,000 after acquiring an additional 582,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp lifted its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on AbbVie from $228.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. William Blair raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Argus raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.50.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV stock opened at $181.77 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $321.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.11, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.58. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $187.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.14.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 244.01%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

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.