Menard Financial Group LLC Acquires 1,724 Shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Menard Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 36.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,454 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,724 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises about 0.8% of Menard Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Menard Financial Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978,415 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 6.9% during the 1st 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 period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in AbbVie by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,698,847,000 after buying an additional 992,496 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in AbbVie by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,984,490,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,434 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in AbbVie by 13.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,744,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,956,518,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,299,645.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. William Blair upgraded AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.64.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $194.21 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $343.04 billion, a PE ratio of 57.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.64. AbbVie Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.85 and a twelve month high of $199.95. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $186.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.22.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced 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 company had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

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.