West Financial Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

West Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 14.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 657 shares of the company’s stock after selling 109 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $1,819,154,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 550.9% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,332,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $804,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,666,521 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,068,820,000 after buying an additional 3,519,187 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie during the second quarter worth approximately $581,817,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 147.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,752,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,800,000 after buying an additional 1,641,091 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABBV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $231.00 price objective on the stock. HSBC set a $225.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price target on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total value of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of AbbVie 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ABBV opened at $236.98 on Friday. 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 $244.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $418.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 112.85, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day moving average is $209.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.87.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid 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 2.8%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 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.