Abel Hall LLC Sells 81 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Abel Hall LLC reduced its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,883 shares of the company’s stock after selling 81 shares during the quarter. Abel Hall LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the first quarter worth $1,819,154,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 550.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,332,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $804,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,666,521 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 31.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,068,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,187 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $581,817,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 147.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,752,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641,091 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $214.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $220.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $231.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.14.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $233.42 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.81 and a 52-week high of $244.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $212.45 and a 200-day moving average of $196.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $412.35 billion, a PE ratio of 111.15, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%.The firm had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 312.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total transaction of $8,407,055.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total transaction of $2,639,190.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.