Westend Capital Management LLC Buys 11,097 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Westend Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 34,678.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,129 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,097 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises approximately 0.9% of Westend Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Westend Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,459,385,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 25,841.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,234,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,144,382,000 after purchasing an additional 10,195,284 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,190,951,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,097,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,215,903,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 27,436,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,875,401,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599,336 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $181.89 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a one year low of $163.52 and a one year high of $218.66. The company has a market cap of $321.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $186.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $187.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 412.03%. The firm had revenue of $13.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 279.15%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 58,832 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.08, for a total value of $12,359,426.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 53,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,183,398.72. This represents a 52.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.29.

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.