Quilter Plc Buys 1,000 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Quilter Plc grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 14.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,803 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Quilter Plc’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $31,025,605,000 after buying an additional 9,978,415 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,758,789,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in AbbVie by 3.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,698,847,000 after acquiring an additional 992,496 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 12.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,984,490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,434 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 13.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,744,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,956,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,201 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $194.21 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.22. The company has a market cap of $343.04 billion, a PE ratio of 57.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.85 and a 12 month high of $199.95.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. AbbVie’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 business earned $2.91 earnings per share. 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. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, 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 transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the sale, 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 is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,792,325. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ABBV. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.