Guinness Asset Management LTD Acquires 17,575 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,206,025 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 17,575 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up 4.0% of Guinness Asset Management LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Guinness Asset Management LTD owned about 0.07% of AbbVie worth $223,721,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FF Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 3.6% during the second quarter. FF Advisors LLC now owns 1,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 2,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. LifeSteps Financial Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc. now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,366,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 10.8% in the first quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 573 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seneca House Advisors grew its stake in AbbVie by 2.7% in the second quarter. Seneca House Advisors now owns 2,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America upped their target price on AbbVie from $220.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective (up from $236.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.80.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $228.06 on Monday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $220.69 and a 200-day moving average of $199.24. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $163.81 and a one year high of $244.81. The company has a market cap of $402.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.51.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 312.38%.

AbbVie Company 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.