Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,238 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 112 shares during the quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its holdings in AbbVie by 197.6% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 179,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 119,141 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated 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 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. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of 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. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.95.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $206.65 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.81 and a 52 week high of $218.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $365.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.41, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%. The firm had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.65 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 312.38%.

AbbVie Company 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.