Blair William & Co. IL Increases Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,166,215 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,273 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $200,029,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. AXS Investments LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 9,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. West Coast Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.7% in the first quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. FCG Investment Co acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter valued at $1,413,000. Safeguard Financial LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $193.50 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $187.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $175.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $341.70 billion, a PE ratio of 57.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.85 and a 12 month high of $199.95.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, HSBC upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $191.64.

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.