Jones Financial Companies Lllp Cuts Stock Position in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Key Points

• Jones Financial Companies Lllp significantly reduced its holdings in AbbVie Inc. by 91.8% during the first quarter, selling 141,991 shares and leaving it with 12,654 shares valued at approximately $2.61 million.
• Brokerages have recently adjusted their ratings and price targets for AbbVie, with Bank of America setting a target of $204 and Guggenheim increasing it to $227, while four analysts rated it as a Strong Buy.
• The company will pay a quarterly dividend of $1.64 per share on November 14th, representing an annual yield of 3.1%, with a current payout ratio of 312.38%.

Jones Financial Companies Lllp trimmed its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 91.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,654 shares of the company's stock after selling 141,991 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,610,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Narus Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 25.3% during the first quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the company's stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.3% in the first quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 46,853 shares of the company's stock worth $9,817,000 after purchasing an additional 2,792 shares during the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 3.9% in the first quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 8,240 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,727,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 161,320 shares of the company's stock worth $33,800,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares during the period. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at $3,879,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Daiwa America upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Guggenheim lifted 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on AbbVie from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on AbbVie to $204.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AbbVie currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $214.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other AbbVie news, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 58,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,178,278.64. The trade was 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 company insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 4.0%

AbbVie stock traded up $8.45 during trading on Thursday, reaching $220.09. The company had a trading volume of 7,647,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,197,288. The firm has a market capitalization of $388.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 104.81, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.53. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.81 and a 12-month high of $221.77. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $199.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.48. 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 699.66% and a net margin of 6.45%.The firm's quarterly 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, equities analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is currently 312.38%.

About AbbVie

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.