AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Purchased by Clarity Financial LLC

Clarity Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 11.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 202,483 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,704 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises 4.0% of Clarity Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Clarity Financial LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $37,585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Hawaiian Bank raised its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 7,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 25.3% during the first quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 6.3% during the first quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 46,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,817,000 after buying an additional 2,792 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 3.9% during the first quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 8,240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,727,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, North Star Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 0.5% during the first quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 161,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,800,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $214.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Berenberg Bank upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $170.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AbbVie from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.45.

AbbVie Trading Up 5.7%

AbbVie stock opened at $244.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $432.40 billion, a PE ratio of 116.56, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.51. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.81 and a 52 week high of $244.81.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.