Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Sells 119 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC lowered its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,891 shares of the company’s stock after selling 119 shares during the period. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AXS Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 9,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. West Coast Financial LLC lifted its stake in AbbVie by 9.7% in the first quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. FCG Investment Co purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,413,000. Safeguard Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 67 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $193.63 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $188.89 and its 200 day moving average is $175.71. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.85 and a 1-year high of $199.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $341.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.46, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.91 EPS. Research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at $89,792,325. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.64.

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.