Meritage Portfolio Management Reduces Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,535 shares of the company’s stock after selling 598 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $6,622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ABBV. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AbbVie by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 170,376,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,605,000 after acquiring an additional 9,978,415 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in AbbVie by 1,745.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,728,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $933,698,000 after acquiring an additional 4,471,806 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of AbbVie by 249.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,373,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,357,000 after buying an additional 3,120,310 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $8,758,789,000 after buying an additional 3,110,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in AbbVie by 156.0% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,474,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $632,619,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,997 shares in the last quarter. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of ABBV traded down $1.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $199.50. 4,596,949 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,356,025. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $352.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.63. AbbVie Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.85 and a 1 year high of $207.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $194.58 and its 200-day moving average is $180.61.

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

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABBV. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $203.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group upped their target price on AbbVie from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of AbbVie in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on AbbVie from $214.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.82.

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.