Westchester Capital Management Inc. Acquires 1,010 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Westchester Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 104,790 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for 4.6% of Westchester Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Westchester Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $19,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth $1,819,154,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in AbbVie by 550.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,332,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $804,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,666,521 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 31.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,519,187 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at about $581,817,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 147.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,752,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total value of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE ABBV opened at $230.88 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.71. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $163.81 and a one year high of $244.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $407.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its 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 business had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 312.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday, August 25th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Daiwa America upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on AbbVie from $207.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, HSBC set a $225.00 price objective on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.90.

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.