LGT Financial Advisors LLC Increases Stake in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

LGT Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,495 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 68 shares during the quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,819,154,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in AbbVie by 31.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,068,820,000 after buying an additional 3,519,187 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the second quarter worth approximately $581,817,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 147.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,752,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $576,800,000 after buying an additional 1,641,091 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value 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 approximately $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This trade represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABBV has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $250.00 price target on AbbVie and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. UBS Group set a $251.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.80.

AbbVie Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE:ABBV opened at $232.07 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.81 and a 52 week high of $244.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $218.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $409.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.51. 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 posted 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 firm 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 firm posted $2.65 EPS. AbbVie’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 312.38%.

About AbbVie

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.