Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lowered its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 59,855 shares of the company’s stock after selling 408 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up approximately 1.5% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $10,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. American National Bank boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 59,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,204,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the period. AXS Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 9,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 17,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,641,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 30,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,791,000 after purchasing an additional 7,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC increased its holdings in AbbVie by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.64.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.6 %

AbbVie stock traded up $1.13 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $196.31. The company had a trading volume of 3,820,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,441,654. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.85 and a 1 year high of $198.30. The firm has a market cap of $346.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $181.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.93.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 186.82%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.91 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.87 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.98%.

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.