AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Bought by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,162 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 718 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ABBV. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $3,229,888,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 249.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,357,000 after buying an additional 3,120,310 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,758,789,000 after buying an additional 3,110,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,422,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,305,252,000 after buying an additional 2,390,239 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

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

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV traded down $0.04 on Monday, hitting $197.51. 4,182,322 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,484,293. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.85 and a 52 week high of $197.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $348.78 billion, a PE ratio of 58.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $178.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.15.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 186.82% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.91 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th were issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.64.

AbbVie Company 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.