AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Position Cut by Morse Asset Management Inc

Morse Asset Management Inc lowered its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,388 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in AbbVie by 249.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120,310 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in AbbVie by 6.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after buying an additional 3,110,601 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in AbbVie by 156.0% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $632,619,000 after buying an additional 2,116,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter valued at $367,372,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 5th. HSBC upgraded shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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, William Blair raised shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.64.

AbbVie Price Performance

ABBV opened at $193.47 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $189.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.85 and a 1 year high of $199.95. The stock has a market cap of $341.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.41, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.64.

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

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.