Hodges Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Hodges Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 17.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,907 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,082 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $7,104,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 25,841.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,234,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,144,382,000 after buying an additional 10,195,284 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $1,819,154,000. 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 during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in AbbVie by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,058,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,142,832,000 after buying an additional 1,882,780 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position 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 period. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ABBV opened at $220.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $388.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.81, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.53. 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 one year low of $163.81 and a one year high of $221.77. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $199.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.48.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its 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). The company had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 312.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded AbbVie from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $214.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Daiwa America upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.95.

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.