Optas LLC Buys 1,142 Shares of AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Optas LLC boosted its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 22.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,227 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,142 shares during the quarter. Optas LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. TD Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 82.9% in the 1st quarter. TD Capital Management LLC now owns 128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 480.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. now owns 209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $216.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of AbbVie from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $220.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $231.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.14.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $231.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $408.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $213.28 and a 200 day moving average of $196.43. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.81 and a 1 year high of $244.81.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.24 by ($0.27). The firm had revenue of $15.42 billion during 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 was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 312.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total value of $2,639,190.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total transaction of $8,407,055.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at $35,178,278.64. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.