AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Sold by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 156,526 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,298 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $29,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Capital Management LLC grew its position in AbbVie by 82.9% during the 1st quarter. TD Capital Management LLC now owns 128 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth about $42,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ABBV shares. Berenberg Bank raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $231.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $220.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $231.90.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.1%

ABBV opened at $230.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.76. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.81 and a 1-year high of $244.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $407.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 312.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie 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 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 through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.