Wealth Management Associates Inc. Sells 528 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Wealth Management Associates Inc. reduced its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 7.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,491 shares of the company’s stock after selling 528 shares during the quarter. Wealth Management Associates Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,917,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,439,271,000 after purchasing an additional 845,787 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,013,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,612,357,000 after purchasing an additional 189,294 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,068,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,187 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,771,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,675,959,000 after purchasing an additional 713,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,413,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,972,050,000 after purchasing an additional 45,871 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim upped their price objective on AbbVie from $227.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Daiwa America upgraded AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AbbVie from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut AbbVie from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. 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, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.80.

AbbVie Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE ABBV opened at $227.67 on Wednesday. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.81 and a fifty-two week high of $244.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $221.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.96. The stock has a market cap of $402.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.65 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 312.38%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at $11,562,611.97. This trade represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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 owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,178,278.64. The trade was a 19.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.