Essex LLC Buys 1,429 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Essex LLC increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 56.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,979 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,429 shares during the period. Essex LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 22,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,072,000 after buying an additional 3,401 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 72.7% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 3,064 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 23.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 48,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,235,000 after acquiring an additional 9,395 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 536,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,398,000 after acquiring an additional 25,385 shares during the period. Finally, Stockman Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total transaction of $2,639,190.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,562,611.97. This trade represents a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total transaction of $8,407,055.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

ABBV opened at $229.19 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.81 and a 1-year high of $244.81. The company has a market cap of $404.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.14, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $216.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $197.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%.The business had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 312.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $207.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.90.

AbbVie 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.