AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Acquired by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,580,357 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,528 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.09% of AbbVie worth $331,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH boosted its stake in AbbVie by 197.6% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 179,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 119,141 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $198.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $350.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.50, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $163.81 and a one year high of $218.66. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.55.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced 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 net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The company had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.65 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 312.38%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Daiwa America raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim raised their price objective on AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on AbbVie in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $214.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.43.

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.