Argent Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Argent Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 96.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,855 shares of the company’s stock after selling 100,909 shares during the quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after acquiring an additional 9,978,415 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 1,745.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,698,000 after buying an additional 4,471,806 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 249.1% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,357,000 after buying an additional 3,120,310 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,758,789,000 after buying an additional 3,110,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 156.0% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $632,619,000 after buying an additional 2,116,997 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $189.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $334.95 billion, a PE ratio of 56.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $194.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.85 and a 12 month high of $199.95.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.91 earnings per share. AbbVie’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ABBV. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AbbVie currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.47.

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.