J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Increases Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 99.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,913 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 19,863 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,081,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,754,908,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424,237 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,586,948,000 after buying an additional 983,888 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in AbbVie by 2.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 778,126 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,875,401,000 after acquiring an additional 3,599,336 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at $4,459,385,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $170.01 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $218.66. The stock has a market cap of $300.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.84, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $198.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $187.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on AbbVie from $181.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $214.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 18,944 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.41, for a total transaction of $3,853,399.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,338,401.36. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Perry C. Siatis sold 5,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.90, for a total transaction of $1,143,466.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,429,199.90. This trade represents a 20.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 113,471 shares of company stock worth $23,426,451. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie 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.