Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Buys 234 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC raised its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,082 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 234 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,913,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ABBV. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 22,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,072,000 after purchasing an additional 3,401 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in AbbVie by 72.7% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,294,000 after buying an additional 3,064 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its stake in AbbVie by 197.6% during 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. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its stake in AbbVie by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 420,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,692,000 after buying an additional 43,991 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. now owns 3,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $216.27 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.81 and a twelve month high of $221.76. The stock has a market cap of $382.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $201.39 and a 200 day moving average of $194.66. 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 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 312.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $214.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.