True North Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in AbbVie Inc. $ABBV

Key Points

• True North Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in AbbVie Inc. by 27.4%, now owning 17,194 shares worth approximately $3.2 million after selling 6,499 shares in the 2nd quarter.
• Several major hedge funds significantly increased their stakes in AbbVie, with GAMMA Investing LLC raising its holdings by over 25,841.6% in the first quarter.
• AbbVie announced a quarterly dividend of $1.64, which will be paid on November 14th, providing a 3.0% dividend yield based on an annualized basis.

True North Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,194 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,499 shares during the quarter. True North Advisors LLC's holdings in AbbVie were worth $3,191,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 25,841.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,234,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,144,382,000 after purchasing an additional 10,195,284 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter worth approximately $1,819,154,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in AbbVie by 550.9% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,332,054 shares of the company's stock worth $804,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,666,521 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in AbbVie by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 14,646,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,068,820,000 after buying an additional 3,519,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the 2nd quarter valued at $581,817,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Berenberg Bank upgraded AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. 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. Piper Sandler began coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $231.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $223.45.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $218.23 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $205.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $195.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.14. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.81 and a 52 week high of $225.16. The stock has a market cap of $385.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.92, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.53.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $15.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.93 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 699.66%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid 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 3.0%. AbbVie's dividend payout ratio is 312.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 42,370 shares of the firm'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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Donoghoe sold 13,295 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 58,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,562,611.97. This trade represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company 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.

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