AbbVie Inc. $ABBV Stock Position Cut by Columbia Asset Management

Key Points

• Columbia Asset Management cut its stake in AbbVie Inc. by 97.0% in Q2, reducing its ownership to 36,478 shares, worth approximately $6.77 million.
• Insider selling was noted, with EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt offloading 42,370 shares at an average price of $198.42, representing a significant decrease in ownership.
• Wells Fargo raised its target price for AbbVie shares from $240 to $260, reflecting bullish sentiment as multiple analysts give the stock a "Moderate Buy" rating.

Columbia Asset Management lessened its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 97.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,478 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,184,874 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for 1.3% of Columbia Asset Management's portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Columbia Asset Management's holdings in AbbVie were worth $6,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ABBV. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. TD Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 82.9% during 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 position in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY bought a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the first quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.42, for a total value of $8,407,055.40. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This represents a 18.58% 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 commented on ABBV. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of AbbVie in a report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AbbVie to $205.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $223.45.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $231.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $408.91 billion, a PE ratio of 110.22, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.53. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $207.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $195.37. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.81 and a twelve month high of $232.35.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.24 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. AbbVie's revenue 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. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company 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 $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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