Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Sells 567 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. cut its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 27.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,525 shares of the company’s stock after selling 567 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in AbbVie by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,917,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,439,271,000 after buying an additional 845,787 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,013,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,612,357,000 after purchasing an additional 189,294 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,068,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,187 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,771,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,675,959,000 after purchasing an additional 713,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,413,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,972,050,000 after purchasing an additional 45,871 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total transaction of $8,407,055.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total transaction of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $250.00 price target on shares of AbbVie and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $220.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $214.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.05.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $229.66 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $405.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.51. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.81 and a 12-month high of $244.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $217.91 and a 200-day moving average of $197.55.

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

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 312.38%.

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.