Kennedy Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 4,201.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 62,506 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 61,053 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $11,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ABBV. Meridian Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at $281,000. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 17,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,746,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $858,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth $292,000. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 29,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,532,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $49,497,875.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV stock traded up $4.84 on Tuesday, hitting $186.78. 5,835,965 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,573,897. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.93, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $329.83 billion, a PE ratio of 55.10, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.64. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.85 and a 1-year high of $187.71. The company’s fifty day moving average is $168.02 and its 200 day moving average is $169.76.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 186.82% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $191.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Friday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $187.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Two 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, AbbVie presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $188.71.

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.