Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Boosts Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 285.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,154 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,484 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $16,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AXS Investments LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 9,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,477,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. West Coast Financial LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 9.7% during the 1st 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 during the period. FCG Investment Co bought a new position in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at $1,413,000. Safeguard Financial LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter worth $235,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the first quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $191.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the business’s 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 owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $89,792,325. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $194.21 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $186.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.22. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.85 and a 1-year high of $199.95. The company has a market cap of $343.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.63, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

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.