Ritholtz Wealth Management Acquires 1,877 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,612 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,877 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Triton Wealth Management PLLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $342,000. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 19,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,638,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the second quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 590,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,311,000 after purchasing an additional 4,794 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 21.7% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 3,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Courier Capital LLC boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.6% during the second quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 15,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available through this link. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of AbbVie 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $214.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. HSBC set a $225.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.90.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $229.19 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.81 and a fifty-two week high of $244.81. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.12. The company has a market capitalization of $404.88 billion, a PE ratio of 109.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.51.

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). The firm had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.65 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.