Townsend & Associates Inc Buys Shares of 11,695 AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Townsend & Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 11,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,225,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth about $25,000. TD Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 82.9% during the first quarter. TD Capital Management LLC now owns 128 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 480.6% during the second quarter. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. now owns 209 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on AbbVie from $207.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. HSBC set a $225.00 price target on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, UBS Group set a $251.00 price target on AbbVie in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.05.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $229.66 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.81 and a twelve month high of $244.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $217.91 and its 200-day moving average is $197.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $405.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.36, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.51.

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

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 312.38%.

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.