AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Shares Sold by Goldstein Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Goldstein Advisors LLC reduced its stake in AbbVie by 38.8% in Q2, now holding 3,352 shares valued at $622,000.
• Analysts have set varied price objectives for AbbVie, with average target price estimated at $234.05, reflecting a "Moderate Buy" rating.
• AbbVie recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.64 per share, translating to an annual dividend yield of 2.9%.

Goldstein Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 38.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,352 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,124 shares during the period. Goldstein Advisors LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Conning Inc. raised its position in AbbVie by 7.1% in the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 191,023 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,458,000 after purchasing an additional 12,690 shares during the period. Dohj LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 41.8% in the second quarter. Dohj LLC now owns 4,529 shares of the company's stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank raised its position in AbbVie by 0.8% in the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 7,556 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,403,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Narus Financial Partners LLC raised its position in AbbVie by 25.3% in the first quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the company's stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department raised its position in AbbVie by 3.3% in the second quarter. BankPlus Trust Department now owns 27,113 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,033,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. UBS Group set a $251.00 price objective on AbbVie in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. HSBC set a $225.00 price objective on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Hsbc Global Res lowered AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $250.00 target price on AbbVie and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on AbbVie from $220.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.05.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $229.66 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.81 and a fifty-two week high of $244.81. The company has a market capitalization of $405.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $217.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.55. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.24 by ($0.27). AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The business had revenue of $15.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.65 EPS. AbbVie's revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 312.38%.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at $35,178,278.64. The trade was a 19.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.51, for a total value of $2,639,190.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ABBV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.