Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Acquires 1,304 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,844 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,304 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,003,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Goepper Burkhardt LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Goepper Burkhardt LLC now owns 3,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 7,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,176,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Delta Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,757 shares of the company’s stock worth $917,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC now owns 18,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,989,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC now owns 12,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,963,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. 67.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 18,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.15, for a total transaction of $2,759,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 625,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,262,600.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $151.19 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.96 and a 52-week high of $168.11. The stock has a market cap of $266.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.33, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $145.76 and a 200-day moving average of $147.52.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.12. AbbVie had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 151.29%. The company had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.52 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 13th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 12th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 121.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. TheStreet raised shares of AbbVie from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Monday, August 28th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $163.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Piper Jaffray Companies upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $163.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Finally, William Blair began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.79.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, a therapy administered as an injection for autoimmune, intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq, a JAK inhibitor to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, and ulcerative colitis; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat hematological malignancies.