Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. Has $939,000 Holdings in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. grew its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,057 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co increased its position in AbbVie by 144.3% during the second quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 39,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,255,000 after acquiring an additional 23,084 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 14,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,713,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,082,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 2.1% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,189,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $777,695,000 after buying an additional 86,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 177.4% during the second quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 23,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,270,000 after buying an additional 14,712 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This trade represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, 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. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ABBV. Piper Sandler upped their price target on AbbVie from $231.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Daiwa America upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $227.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.80.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $228.06 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.81 and a 52 week high of $244.81. The firm has a market cap of $402.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.51. 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 fifty day moving average is $220.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.94.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.24 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $15.42 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.65 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. 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.