Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Trims Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lessened its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,604 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,588 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $14,854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 249.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120,310 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 156.0% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $632,619,000 after buying an additional 2,116,997 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth $367,372,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $194.21 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $186.83 and a 200-day moving average of $175.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $343.04 billion, a PE ratio of 57.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.85 and a 1-year high of $199.95.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at $89,792,325. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $191.64.

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.