ESL Trust Services LLC Decreases Stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

ESL Trust Services LLC lessened its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 21.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 342 shares of the company’s stock after selling 96 shares during the quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $68,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,605,000 after acquiring an additional 9,978,415 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in AbbVie by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 48,098,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,758,789,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110,601 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in AbbVie by 3.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 31,295,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,698,847,000 after purchasing an additional 992,496 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 15,277,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,382,000 after purchasing an additional 134,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 12.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,898,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,984,490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,434 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Performance

NYSE:ABBV opened at $199.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $352.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $194.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.61. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.85 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. AbbVie had a return on equity of 244.01% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.96 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is 215.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of AbbVie from $215.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.82.

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.