Essex LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Essex LLC lessened its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,585 shares of the company’s stock after selling 137 shares during the quarter. Essex LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after acquiring an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in AbbVie by 249.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120,310 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings 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 during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in AbbVie by 156.0% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $632,619,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at about $367,372,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler Companies restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America raised their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.47.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $188.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $333.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.04, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.85 and a 1 year high of $199.95. The company’s fifty day moving average is $194.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.74.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.91 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.98%.

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.