Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Trims Holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 143,411 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,918 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $24,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. West Coast Financial LLC increased its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.7% during the first quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. FCG Investment Co bought a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at $1,413,000. Safeguard Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth $235,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the fourth quarter valued at $87,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $193.47 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $189.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.80. The company has a market cap of $341.64 billion, a PE ratio of 57.41, a P/E/G 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 company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. Analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AbbVie news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,792,325. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABBV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. HSBC raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.64.

AbbVie 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.