Focus Partners Wealth Buys 39,164 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 538,219 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,164 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $112,768,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,917,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,439,271,000 after acquiring an additional 845,787 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,013,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,612,357,000 after acquiring an additional 189,294 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 31.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,068,820,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,187 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 5.9% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 713,148 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,058,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,142,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,882,780 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.3%

ABBV opened at $210.46 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $371.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 100.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.53. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.81 and a 12 month high of $218.66. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $198.64 and a 200 day moving average of $194.25.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 EPS 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 company had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 312.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ABBV shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Bank of America lifted their target price on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $231.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Daiwa America raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.95.

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.