Goldstone Financial Group LLC Invests $1.73 Million in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 8,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,728,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AbbVie by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after buying an additional 9,978,415 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in AbbVie by 6.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,758,789,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110,601 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in AbbVie by 3.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,698,847,000 after purchasing an additional 992,496 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after buying an additional 134,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,984,490,000 after buying an additional 1,240,434 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Up 6.4 %

ABBV stock opened at $201.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $355.91 billion, a PE ratio of 59.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.91. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.85 and a 12 month high of $202.35.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a boost from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABBV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on AbbVie from $170.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen upped their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.