Waddell & Associates LLC Boosts Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Waddell & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,022 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Waddell & Associates LLC’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in AbbVie in the first quarter valued at approximately $646,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in AbbVie by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. purchased a new stake in AbbVie during the 1st quarter worth $201,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 310.2% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 27,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,025,000 after buying an additional 20,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in AbbVie by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $385,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ABBV shares. TD Cowen lifted their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 target price for the company. Argus raised shares of AbbVie from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.50.

AbbVie Stock Up 3.0 %

ABBV stock opened at $176.94 on Friday. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.65 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock has a market cap of $312.68 billion, a PE ratio of 61.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.04.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $1.64 dividend. This is a positive change from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.28%.

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.