Sweeney & Michel LLC Buys New Shares in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sweeney & Michel LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 9,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,651,000. AbbVie makes up 0.7% of Sweeney & Michel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at $3,229,888,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 4th quarter valued at $499,955,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 249.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,758,789,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110,601 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $49,497,875.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,792,325. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV traded up $4.76 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $186.70. 6,031,780 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,574,535. The stock has a market capitalization of $329.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.94. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $168.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.93. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.85 and a 12 month high of $187.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 186.82% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.91 earnings per share. Analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on AbbVie from $191.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $188.71.

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.