Waterloo Capital L.P. Reduces Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Waterloo Capital L.P. lessened its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 11.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,871 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,366 shares during the quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,865,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AbbVie by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110,601 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in AbbVie by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,698,847,000 after purchasing an additional 992,496 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in AbbVie by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,984,490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in AbbVie by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,744,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,956,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,201 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $193.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $341.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.85 and a 1-year high of $199.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.46.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.91 EPS. Equities analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up previously from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $191.64.

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.