Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Sells 883 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 42,177 shares of the company’s stock after selling 883 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $8,837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,072,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,754,908,000 after buying an additional 1,424,237 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,144,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,586,948,000 after buying an additional 983,888 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in AbbVie by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,983,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,038,898,000 after purchasing an additional 778,126 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,875,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $4,459,385,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.29.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $187.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.52 and a 1-year high of $218.66. The company has a market capitalization of $330.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $187.88.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.91 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 412.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.31 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 279.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total transaction of $12,359,426.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at $11,183,398.72. This trade represents a 52.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.