Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Decreases Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lowered its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 8.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,634,739 shares of the company’s stock after selling 142,482 shares during the period. AbbVie comprises 1.0% of Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 0.09% of AbbVie worth $322,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in AbbVie during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the second quarter worth $27,000. Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in shares of AbbVie by 40.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 135,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38,974 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in AbbVie by 4,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 212 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AbbVie Stock Performance

Shares of ABBV opened at $173.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $306.37 billion, a PE ratio of 60.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $184.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.54. AbbVie Inc. has a 12-month low of $151.29 and a 12-month high of $207.32.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays upped 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. Leerink Partnrs raised AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $191.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price target on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.65.

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.