New Century Financial Group LLC Has $1.66 Million Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

New Century Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 9.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,395 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 690 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,658,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in AbbVie in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of AbbVie in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 4,140.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a report on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on AbbVie from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Four 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. According to MarketBeat.com, AbbVie presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AbbVie Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:ABBV opened at $188.86 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.85 and a 12 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $333.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.04, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.74.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 203.66% and a net margin of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. AbbVie’s payout ratio is 183.98%.

About AbbVie

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.