West Branch Capital LLC Has $5.85 Million Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

West Branch Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,621 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises about 2.0% of West Branch Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $5,850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 International Investors increased its stake in AbbVie by 6.9% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in AbbVie by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,698,847,000 after buying an additional 992,496 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in AbbVie by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,620,382,000 after buying an additional 134,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in AbbVie by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,984,490,000 after buying an additional 1,240,434 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE ABBV traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $188.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,607,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,301,312. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $333.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.85 and a 12 month high of $199.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $194.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.74.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $1.55 dividend. 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 payout ratio 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.