AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Sold by Westhampton Capital LLC

Westhampton Capital LLC lowered its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,974 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Westhampton Capital LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,851,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 3.6% in the second quarter. FF Advisors LLC now owns 1,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in AbbVie by 1.9% in the first quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 2,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $616,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners lifted its stake in AbbVie by 10.8% in the first quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Seneca House Advisors lifted its stake in AbbVie by 2.7% in the second quarter. Seneca House Advisors now owns 2,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castle Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 3.4% in the first quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Trading Up 3.7%

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $231.47 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $207.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $195.37. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.81 and a 1-year high of $232.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $408.91 billion, a PE ratio of 110.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 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 is currently 312.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AbbVie from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares in the company, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.08% 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.