AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Acquired by Victrix Investment Advisors

Victrix Investment Advisors increased its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,696 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the period. Victrix Investment Advisors’ holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total transaction of $2,639,190.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total transaction of $8,407,055.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ABBV. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $170.00 to $270.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.45.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $231.47 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $207.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.37. The firm has a market cap of $408.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.22, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.53. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.81 and a 1 year high of $232.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.74.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). The firm had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.65 EPS. Analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 312.38%.

AbbVie 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.