Welch Group LLC Has $93.45 Million Holdings in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Welch Group LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 371,366 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,433 shares during the quarter. AbbVie accounts for 3.2% of Welch Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $93,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter worth $5,865,055,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 457.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,536,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,439,714,000 after buying an additional 8,646,424 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 106.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,071,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,986,777,000 after buying an additional 6,736,161 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 914.6% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 5,444,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,244,112,000 after acquiring an additional 4,908,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,629,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,179,099,000 after acquiring an additional 4,190,487 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 32,710 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $8,177,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 74,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,607,500. This trade represents a 30.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on AbbVie from $258.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded AbbVie from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on AbbVie from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.73.

AbbVie Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $259.01 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.75 and a 12 month high of $267.47. The company has a market capitalization of $457.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.17, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $246.17 and its 200 day moving average is $226.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.04. AbbVie had a negative return on equity of 422.07% and a net margin of 9.80%.The business had revenue of $16.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. AbbVie has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.840-3.880 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were paid a $1.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.48%.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.