Welch Group LLC Raises Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Welch Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 0.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 360,199 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 560 shares during the period. AbbVie makes up about 3.1% of Welch Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $71,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FCG Investment Co bought a new position in AbbVie during the first quarter valued at $1,413,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% in the first quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 65.6% in the 1st quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 97,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,726,000 after acquiring an additional 38,562 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 9.0% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 32,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 308.1% in the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 32,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,624,000 after purchasing an additional 24,756 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.39.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.6 %

ABBV traded up $1.17 on Monday, hitting $189.02. The company had a trading volume of 295,273 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,263,911. The stock has a market capitalization of $333.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $194.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.40. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.85 and a 12-month high of $199.95.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.91 earnings per share. Analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

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.