FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Trims Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH cut its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 48.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,955 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,758 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth $3,229,888,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie by 6.2% in the first 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 during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in AbbVie by 249.1% in the first 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 during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in AbbVie by 6.9% in the first 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. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in AbbVie by 156.0% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $632,619,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,997 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $196.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $346.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.27, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.85 and a 1 year high of $199.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $184.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.74.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.91 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 dated 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. HSBC raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.