AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Acquired by Centaurus Financial Inc.

Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 6.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,504 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $2,312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kalos Management Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in AbbVie in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, General Partner Inc. acquired a new position in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABBV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Credit Suisse Group decreased their price target on AbbVie from $170.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Piper Jaffray Companies raised their price target on AbbVie from $163.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. HSBC assumed coverage on AbbVie in a report on Friday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $167.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.79.

Insider Activity at AbbVie

In related news, CEO Richard A. Gonzalez sold 18,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.15, for a total value of $2,759,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 625,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,262,600.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE ABBV opened at $151.19 on Thursday. AbbVie Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.96 and a 52 week high of $168.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $145.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $266.86 billion, a PE ratio of 31.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.52 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 151.29%. As a group, research analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 11.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 12th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 121.81%.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, a therapy administered as an injection for autoimmune, intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq, a JAK inhibitor to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, and ulcerative colitis; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat hematological malignancies.