AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Purchased by Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.

Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 79.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,538 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises approximately 1.3% of Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,819,154,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 550.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,332,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $804,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,666,521 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 31.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,068,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,187 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at approximately $581,817,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 17.5% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,367,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,753,064,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,863 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at $35,178,278.64. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total value of $2,639,190.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Price Performance

AbbVie stock opened at $228.06 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.81 and a 12 month high of $244.81. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $220.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $199.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $402.87 billion, a PE ratio of 108.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.51.

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

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 312.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Erste Group Bank cut AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday. UBS Group set a $251.00 price objective on AbbVie in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Two equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.80.

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.