M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Grows Stake in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 79.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,509 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,110 shares during the period. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $466,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $1,819,154,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 3,666,521 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 3,519,187 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at about $581,817,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,641,091 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. UBS Group set a $251.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value of $8,407,055.40. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $230.88 on Monday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.81 and a 1 year high of $244.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $407.86 billion, a PE ratio of 109.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.71.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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%.

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.