AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Stake Boosted by Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 405,722 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for approximately 2.4% of Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $75,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,917,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,439,271,000 after acquiring an additional 845,787 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,013,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,612,357,000 after purchasing an additional 189,294 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,068,820,000 after buying an additional 3,519,187 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,771,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,675,959,000 after purchasing an additional 713,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 25,841.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,234,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,144,382,000 after purchasing an additional 10,195,284 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Daiwa America raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.68.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

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 shares were sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total value of $2,639,190.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This trade represents a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total transaction of $8,407,055.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV stock opened at $222.29 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 1 year low of $163.81 and a 1 year high of $223.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $203.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $195.01. The firm has a market cap of $392.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.85, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.53.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

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