Gibbs Wealth Management Grows Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Gibbs Wealth Management increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 178.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,233 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,199 shares during the period. Gibbs Wealth Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie by 8.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 884,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,380,000 after purchasing an additional 65,445 shares during the period. MWA Asset Management increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 2.9% in the first quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 17,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,896,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc. raised its holdings in AbbVie by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 17,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,893,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Ascension Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at $951,000. Finally, B&D White Capital Company LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at $370,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $256.80 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $233.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $222.61. The company has a market capitalization of $453.71 billion, a PE ratio of 126.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.30. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.62 and a 1-year high of $261.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.06. AbbVie had a net margin of 5.79% and a negative return on equity of 576.45%. The company had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. AbbVie’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 14.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $6.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 340.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $298.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on AbbVie from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AbbVie from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 5th. Two 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.10.

Key AbbVie News

Here are the key news stories impacting AbbVie this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Canaccord Genuity raised its price target on AbbVie to $282 from $273 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling continued confidence in the company’s earnings power and pipeline. Benzinga / The Fly report
• Positive Sentiment: AbbVie’s Allergan Aesthetics unit won European Commission approval for Boey, a short-acting botulinum toxin, expanding its aesthetics portfolio and adding another growth driver outside its core immunology business. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several commentary pieces highlighted AbbVie as a high-quality dividend stock and suggested its long-term outlook remains attractive, but that much of the optimism may already be reflected in the share price. Motley Fool article
• Negative Sentiment: Genmab and AbbVie clarified that the U.S. primary endpoint in the Phase 3 EPCORE DLBCL-1 trial was overall survival, and that endpoint was not met, which could pressure sentiment around AbbVie’s oncology franchise and the epcoritamab program. Yahoo Finance article
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst coverage also noted AbbVie’s oncology revenue may remain under pressure in Q2, as weakness in Imbruvica could offset gains from Venclexta and newer therapies. Yahoo Finance article

About AbbVie

AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company that was created as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. The company focuses on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies for complex and often chronic medical conditions. Its operations span research and development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and commercialization, with an emphasis on bringing specialty medicines to market across multiple therapeutic areas.

AbbVie’s product portfolio and pipeline cover several major therapeutic categories, including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, virology and women’s health.