Valley National Advisers Inc. Grows Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,671 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ABBV. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,229,888,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised 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 worth $796,357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120,310 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 39.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,390,239 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,792,325. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly 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 insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ABBV. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.29.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $193.90. 3,662,784 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,535,780. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.94. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.85 and a 1-year high of $194.99. The stock has a market cap of $342.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $176.05 and a 200-day moving average of $172.15.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.98%.

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.