Hamlin Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Hamlin Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,065,163 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,757 shares during the quarter. AbbVie makes up 4.6% of Hamlin Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Hamlin Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $197,716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Conning Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 191,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,458,000 after purchasing an additional 12,690 shares during the last quarter. Dohj LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 41.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dohj LLC now owns 4,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $802,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 7,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,403,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. BankPlus Trust Department now owns 27,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,033,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ABBV. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on AbbVie from $207.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, UBS Group set a $251.00 target price on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.05.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total transaction of $8,407,055.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE ABBV opened at $229.66 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.81 and a 52 week high of $244.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $405.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.36, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $217.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $197.60.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The business had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.65 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 312.38%.

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.