AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Stock Position Lessened by Castle Wealth Management LLC

Castle Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,287 shares of the company’s stock after selling 438 shares during the quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $239,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 82.9% in the first quarter. TD Capital Management LLC now owns 128 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter worth $25,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter worth $30,000. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 480.6% in the second quarter. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. now owns 209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 1.2%

NYSE:ABBV opened at $228.57 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $403.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.84, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.51. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.81 and a 1-year high of $244.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $219.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $198.28.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be given a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend 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%.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Berenberg Bank upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.80.

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.