New Century Financial Group LLC Has $1.32 Million Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

New Century Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 342.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,705 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,964 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie during the second quarter worth $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in AbbVie during the first quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ABBV. Barclays raised their price objective on AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up previously from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $191.64.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $197.48 on Tuesday. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.85 and a twelve month high of $199.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $348.72 billion, a PE ratio of 58.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted 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 company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.91 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $49,497,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.